Rescuers race against blocked roads and unstable terrain to reach survivors
A magnitude-6 earthquake has torn through eastern Afghanistan, leaving at least 800 people dead and around 2,500 injured, according to Taliban officials. Emergency crews are struggling to access remote mountain villages as roads have been destroyed and landslides have cut off entire communities.
The quake struck shortly after midnight on Sunday near the Pakistan border, with Kunar province bearing the heaviest destruction. The shallow depth of the tremor intensified the damage, while repeated aftershocks overnight and into Monday were felt as far away as Kabul, more than 100 miles from the epicenter.
Rising toll and overwhelmed hospitals
Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid confirmed on Monday afternoon that fatalities had surpassed 800, warning that numbers would likely rise as rescuers dig through collapsed homes of mud and stone. Provincial hospitals, particularly in Asadabad, reported being overwhelmed with casualties arriving in waves.
Survivors told of entire families wiped out. Rasheed Khan, a cloth merchant from Kabul whose family lived in Kunar’s Watpur village, said: “I have lost my wife, three children and two brothers. It is doomsday for me. I don’t even know what has become of my relatives who are still buried under rubble.”
Relief efforts slowed by terrain
Afghanistan’s defence ministry said it had dispatched 30 doctors and trucks loaded with medicine to Kunar. But landslides, damaged bridges, and washed-out roads mean many villages can only be reached by air. Taliban officials have called on humanitarian agencies for urgent help, including mobile hospitals, food supplies, tents, clean water, and rescue equipment.
The lack of foreign aid since the Taliban’s return to power in 2021 has left Afghanistan’s healthcare system in crisis. Many clinics are closed, and those that remain open are under-equipped to deal with large-scale disasters. Jeremy Smith, the Red Cross country manager, said the quake’s remote location made operations especially difficult: “Aftershocks continue, and there are fears of more in the days ahead.”
Villages reduced to rubble
Kunar’s homes, built mainly of mud, rock, and poorly reinforced concrete, crumbled under the force of the tremors. In the village of Masood, where rescuers said nearly every household has suffered deaths, the journey that once took two hours now requires eight. Hundreds are feared still trapped. Deaths have also been reported in neighboring Laghman and Nuristan provinces, though full damage assessments are ongoing.
Muhammad Aziz, a laborer from Nur Gul district, said ten of his relatives, including five children, were killed. “Every home has been struck by death,” he said. “The mud houses are gone. People are digging with their bare hands.”
International response and fragile context
China has pledged to provide disaster relief, while India has already delivered tents and food supplies. The UN mission in Afghanistan is preparing emergency support, and Pope Leo offered condolences to those who lost loved ones.
The disaster comes at a time of profound hardship for Afghanistan, already mired in economic collapse, widespread hunger, and the forced return of millions of refugees from Iran and Pakistan. More than half of the country’s 42 million people are in need of humanitarian aid, according to the UN.
Earthquakes are a recurring danger in Afghanistan, especially along the Hindu Kush fault lines. Just last year, a series of quakes in the west killed over 1,000 people, while a magnitude-6.3 tremor in October 2023 left thousands dead in one of the deadliest natural disasters in the country’s recent history.
