World News for Students of English

10-10-2023 15:00

Three strong earthquakes hit various continents around the globe on Saturday morning, with tremors felt in Papua New Guinea, Mexico, and Afghanistan.

So far, reports suggest that despite the triple earthquake there are only casualties in one country. Roughly 40km from the city of Herat in western Afghanistan, a 6.3 magnitude earthquake was recorded, followed by three strong tremors, killing at least 15 people and leaving at least 78 injured. However, figures are expected to rise. The initial earthquake was followed by at least three powerful tremors that collapsed buildings and left people trapped beneath rubble. Afghanistan is prone to seismic activity due to the collision of the Indian tectonic plate with the Eurasian plate to the north.

A few hours earlier, Mexico and Papua New Guinea were struck by quakes of 6.3 and 6.7 magnitude, but they didn’t record any initial deaths or casualties. Mild shaking was felt but there were no immediate reports of damage or injuries in southern Oaxaca where it hit.

Difficult words: tremor (a slight earthquake), prone (likely to suffer from), seismic (relating to earthquakes).

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