1999 Afghanistan earthquake

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On February 11, 1999, a magnitude-6.0 earthquake struck the Wardak and Logar provinces, about 180 kilometers south of Kabul, Afghanistan. The quake occurred at a depth of about 33 kilometers. The hardest-hit areas were Maidan Shar, Nirkh, and Sayedabad in Wardak, and Baraki Barak, Pul-e-Alam, and Mohammad Agha in Logar, where the combined population in the worst region reached around 300,000 people.

The disaster left 70 people dead and 500 injured. It destroyed about 7,000 homes, leaving thousands homeless and many more affected. In Kabul, there was damage to mud-walled buildings and several injuries, and panic spread as some residents feared U.S. warplanes were searching for Osama bin Laden.

Assessment of the damage was difficult due to harsh weather and widespread, dispersed settlements.