A powerful 6.3-magnitude earthquake has struck western Afghanistan, just over a week after strong quakes and aftershocks killed thousands of people and flattened entire villages in the same region. The US Geological Survey said the latest quake’s epicentre was about 21 miles (34km) outside Herat, the provincial capital, and the focus was 5 miles below the surface. The aid group Doctors Without Borders said two people were reported dead while Herat regional hospital received more than 100 people injured in Sunday’s quake. Mohammad Zahir Noorzai, the head of the emergency relief team in Herat province said one person died and nearly 150 others were injured. He added that casualty numbers might rise, as they were yet to reach all affected areas. Sayed Kazim Rafiqi, 42, a Herat city resident, said he had never seen such devastation before, with the majority of houses damaged and “people terrified”. Rafiqi and others headed to the hospital to donate much-needed blood. “We have to help in any way possible,” he said. Earthquakes on 7 October flattened whole villages in Herat, one of the most destructive quakes in the country’s recent history. More than 90% of the people killed a week ago were women and children, UN officials reported on Thursday. Taliban officials said the earlier quakes killed more than 2,000 people across the province. The epicentre was in Zenda Jan district, where 1,294 people died, 1,688 were injured and every home was destroyed, according to UN figures. The initial quake, numerous aftershocks and a second 6.3-magnitude quake on Wednesday flattened villages, destroying hundreds of mud-brick homes that could not withstand such force. Schools, health clinics and other village facilities also collapsed. Besides rubble and funerals after that devastation, there was little left of the villages in the region’s dusty hills. Survivors are struggling to come to terms with the loss of family members and in many places, living residents are outnumbered by volunteers who came to search the debris and dig mass graves.