A magnitude 6.3 earthquake killed two people in western Afghanistan Sunday, with damaged prisons evacuated and residents fleeing a region where tremors have claimed at least 1,000 lives this past week.

Since Oct. 7, a series of potent quakes have jolted Herat province, leveling whole villages, burying families and leaving thousands homeless as winter approaches.

In rural Injil district, near the epicenter of Sunday's quake, 64-year-old Rustam narrowly escaped when tremors destroyed the remnants of his home and buried belongings he was trying to salvage at around 8:00 am.

"We heard a very terrible and scary sound," he said. "When we entered the house, like the power of God, it sounded like a bomb blast, and collapsed."

His neighbor in Ghar Mushak village, 57-year-old Khudadad, also said a home he had hoped to repair was reduced to rubble.

"We people are hopeless," he said. "We have nowhere to stay, it's like we are in a ruined desert."

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said two new fatalities and 154 injuries were registered at Herat Regional Hospital, where patients were being ferried on stretchers and treated outside under gazebos.

"The situation is very critical," MSF's Afghanistan Program Head Yahya Kalilah told AFP. "In terms of psychology, people are panicked and traumatized."

"People are not feeling safe. I will assure you 100 percent, no one will sleep in their house."