Afghan government estimates 150 deaths from quake

Kabul residents begin work to repair their quake-damaged home

KABUL, Afghanistan (CNN) -- Local authorities are reporting scores of deaths in Samangan Province in northern Afghanistan, where a powerful weekend earthquake triggered a landslide and caused widespread damage.

At least 150 people died when a mountainside rattled by shocks sent rubble sliding into the village of Dahani-Zeu, according to the Bakhtar Information Agency of the interim Afghan government.

A hotel and 100 houses were destroyed while another 400 houses were inundated by water when the landslide dammed a river in the village, said Abdul Rahman of BIA.

The U.N. World Food Programme estimated the number of deaths as closer to 100 with many additional injuries. The WFP operates several programs in northern Afghanistan and has dispatched rescue teams and food to the region.

According to World Food Programme spokesman Khaled Mansour, who said he had spoken by telephone with officials in the region, two villages in the remote province of Samangan were badly hit by the quake.

The WFP was trying to send helicopters normally used for food drops to the region to assess the situation.

In the Afghan capital, Kabul, at least six people were killed when the quake hit and more than 30 others were injured. Dozens of houses were also destroyed.

A spokesman for the U.S. Geological Survey in Golden, Colorado, said Sunday's earthquake had a magnitude of 7.2, with an epicenter 45 miles south-southwest of Feyzabad, Afghanistan.

An earthquake with a magnitude of 7 of above is considered a major quake capable of causing widespread structural damage.

The quake, which struck at 4:30 p.m. local time Sunday, was felt as far away as India and lasted about a minute.

Communications in northern Afghanistan are extremely difficult and it could be many days before an accurate picture of the damage caused by the quake emerges.

Earthquakes are common in the region although they are not usually as strong or felt over such a wide area.

In May 1998 a magnitude 6.9 quake hit northern Afghanistan killing more than 5,000 people and wiping out dozens of villages.

Another tremor of similar strength to Sunday's quake hit the region in early January this year but caused no significant damage.

CNN Producer Rose Arce contributed to this report.