A powerful 6.0-magnitude earthquake has killed at least 800 people and injured more than 1,300 in eastern Afghanistan, Taliban officials said Monday.
The quake struck just after midnight local time, about 17 miles from Jalalabad near the Pakistan border, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Because it hit a remote mountainous area, officials warned the death toll could rise.
“It will take time to get the exact information about human losses and damage to infrastructure,” said Sharafat Zaman, a spokesperson for Afghanistan’s Public Health Ministry. He said a large rescue operation was underway and called for international assistance.
Rescue teams are struggling to reach isolated villages where homes made of mud and wood crumbled instantly. Videos from the scene showed collapsed houses, survivors digging through rubble, and helicopters airlifting the wounded to hospitals.
Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said the death toll had climbed to 800. Earlier, Interior Ministry spokesperson Mufti Abdul Matin Qani confirmed 622 deaths and more than 1,300 injuries in the eastern provinces of Nangarhar and Kunar. Officials said around 1,000 injured people had already been evacuated to hospitals.
The United Nations said it had mobilized emergency teams. Agencies including UNICEF, the World Health Organization and the International Organization for Migration reported they were delivering aid.
“I was half-buried”
For survivors, the destruction came without warning. One man, Sadiqullah, told the Associated Press he was jolted awake by a loud boom before his house collapsed.
“I was half-buried and unable to get out,” he said. He managed to save three of his children, but his wife and two sons were killed. “We were trapped for three to four hours until people from other areas arrived and pulled me out,” he added.
The U.S. Geological Survey reported at least five aftershocks between 4.5 and 5.2 magnitude through Monday. Experts warn aftershocks can last for days and sometimes cause more damage than the initial quake.
Afghanistan sits on several fault lines where the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates meet, making it highly vulnerable to earthquakes. The shallow depth of Monday’s quake just 5 miles below the surface made it especially destructive.
In 2022, about 1,000 people were killed when a 5.9-magnitude quake hit eastern Afghanistan. The following year, three separate 6.3-magnitude quakes struck the western province of Herat, killing thousands.
A country in crisis
The earthquake comes at a time of deep hardship for Afghanistan. The country is facing its fourth straight year of drought, while more than 2.3 million Afghans have returned from Iran and Pakistan this year alone. Food insecurity is worsening, with aid groups warning many families won’t have enough to survive the winter.
Around 23 million people half the country’s population now rely on humanitarian aid, according to relief agencies.
Until last year, the United States provided nearly half of that assistance. But Washington has since cut an estimated $1.7 billion in aid, according to a recent report to Congress. The U.S. has also withheld emergency food aid that was previously available to Afghanistan, even as it restored such aid to other countries.
