A powerful earthquake struck Afghanistan, killing more than 800 people and injuring at least 2,800, officials reported Monday. Rescue teams are struggling to reach the hardest-hit, remote mountain areas due to difficult terrain and bad weather.
The disaster adds to the enormous challenges facing the Taliban government, which is already stretched thin by a steep drop in foreign aid and the deportation of hundreds of thousands of Afghans from neighboring countries.
Sharafat Zaman, spokesperson for Afghanistan’s health ministry in Kabul, urgently called for international aid to deal with the aftermath of the magnitude 6 quake. The earthquake struck around midnight local time at a shallow depth of about 10 kilometers (6 miles).
“We desperately need help as many people lost their lives and homes,” Zaman told Reuters.
The earthquake claimed 812 lives in the eastern provinces of Kunar and Nangarhar, said Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid.
Eyewitness Ziaul Haq Mohammadi, a university student in Jalalabad, described being caught off guard when the quake hit. “I was studying in my room when the ground shook so powerfully it knocked me down. We spent the night terrified, anxious that another quake could happen anytime,” Mohammadi said.
Mudbrick homes, common in the mountainous region, crumbled under the tremor, isolating communities further. Rescuers are fighting tough conditions to reach areas near the Pakistani border that have no mobile network coverage.
Kate Carey from the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs explained, “Heavy rains before the quake increased risks of landslides and rockslides, making many roads impassable.”
Officials are also urgently removing dead animals to prevent contamination of water supplies, Carey added.
The situation remains critical as Afghanistan faces this natural catastrophe on top of ongoing humanitarian and political crises. The Taliban’s plea for international support underscores the dire need for aid to save lives and aid recovery efforts.
