Afghanistan has been struck by a series of natural disasters over the past week, with flooding and landslides killing 77 people and a separate earthquake claiming 12 more lives, according to government authorities.

The country's Disaster Management Authority reported Saturday that widespread flooding, landslides and lightning strikes triggered by heavy rain and storms have left 77 people dead and 137 injured over the past 10 days. The recent toll includes 26 people killed in the previous 48 hours alone.

The flooding has caused extensive infrastructure damage, with 793 homes completely destroyed and 2,673 others damaged. Floods and landslides have destroyed 337 kilometers of roads, while businesses, agricultural land, water wells and irrigation canals have also been affected, impacting more than 5,800 families overall. Key highways connecting Kabul to the provinces, including the main route to the Pakistani border, have been damaged or closed.

Separately, a 5.8 magnitude earthquake struck northern Afghanistan on Friday night, killing 12 people and injuring four others, according to deputy government spokesman Hamdullah Fitrat. The quake's epicenter was located in the Hindu Kush mountain range, about 150 kilometers east of Kunduz city.

Among the earthquake victims were eight members of a refugee family who had recently returned from Iran and were living in a tent on the outskirts of Kabul. The family was killed when heavy rains had softened the ground and the earthquake caused a wall to collapse on their temporary shelter. Only one survivor, a 3-year-old boy, was pulled from the rubble and hospitalized with severe head injuries.

Afghanistan, an impoverished country highly vulnerable to extreme weather events, faces ongoing challenges from natural disasters. The country lies in a seismically active region and has experienced multiple deadly earthquakes in recent years. More rain has been forecast for the coming days, prompting authorities to warn the public to stay away from riverbanks and flood-prone areas.