The 6.3-magnitude quake struck overnight at a depth of 28 kilometers (17 miles) with the epicentre near the city of Mazar-i-Sharif, according to the US Geological Survey.

Four people were killed in Balkh province, where Mazar-i-Sharif is the capital, according to Kamal Khan Zadran, a health department spokesman.

He said the provincial hospital was also treating 120 people for injuries.

National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) spokesman Mohammadullah Hamad said that five people had been killed and 143 wounded in neighbouring Samangan province.

"Most of the injured have returned home after receiving treatment," he said in a statement.

Poor communication networks and infrastructure in mountainous Afghanistan have hampered disaster responses in the past, preventing authorities for hours or even days from reaching far-flung villages to assess the extent of the damage.

The quake sent residents of Mazar-i-Sharif, one of Afghanistan's largest northern cities, running into the streets due to fears their homes would collapse, an AFP correspondent observed.

Correspondents in the capital Kabul, around 420 kilometres to the south, also said they felt shaking.

It is the latest natural disaster for the Taliban government, which has faced three major deadly earthquakes since taking over Afghanistan in 2021, even as the foreign aid that formed the backbone of the country's economy has dramatically dropped.

In August, a shallow 6.0-magnitude quake in the country's east wiped out mountainside villages and killed more than 2,200 people.

Large tremors in western Herat, near the Iranian border, in 2023, and in eastern Nangarhar province in 2022 killed hundreds and destroyed thousands of homes.

The United Nations and aid agencies have warned hunger is rising among the Afghan population.

The isolated country is suffering from a humanitarian crisis compounded by drought, economic restrictions on the banking sector, and the pushback of millions of Afghan citizens from neighbouring Iran and Pakistan.

Earthquakes are common in Afghanistan, particularly along the Hindu Kush mountain range, near where the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates meet.

Many homes in the predominantly rural country -- devastated by decades of war -- are shoddily built.

It often takes hours or days to travel by steep roads and paths to remote villages, which are often cut off from help during disasters or poor weather.