2nd LD Writethru: Death toll of earthquake rises to 115 in Afghanistan

The death toll of Monday's earthquake in Afghanistan has risen to 115 while the number of injuries has gone up to 538, Afghan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani said on Tuesday.

A 7.5-magnitude earthquake with a depth of 210 km hit the Hindu Kush mountain range in northern Afghanistan at 0909 GMT on Monday, with strong tremors felt in Pakistan and India.

Earlier reports put the number of the casualties to 74 killed and 343 injured.

A total of 7,630 homes, 12 schools, 17 mosques, 20 office buildings have been confirmed damaged in nine provinces by the natural disaster, President Ghani said on his twitter account.

The Afghan leader has directed the concerned officials to provide relief to the affected people.

Rescue and relief workers have increased emergency response to victims of the deadly disaster in northern and eastern provinces to assist the affected people, Mohammad Hassan Sayas, deputy to National Disaster Management Authority (ANDMA) told Xinhua earlier on Tuesday.

Losses are being recorded in northern Badakhshan, Takhar, Baghlan and eastern Nuristan, Kunar, Laghman, Parwan and Kabul provinces by the national and provincial disaster management officials.

Badakhshan, Nuristan and Kunar were the most hit provinces, according to officials.

"We are still collecting reports on casualties and damages, the number of deaths and wounded would likely go up. And that the fatalities feared to be much higher than reported," Sayas noted.

"As of now, our agency is in need of none-food stuffs namely tents, blanket, kitchen tools and cloths," he said. Enditem