One of Afghanistan’s worst earthquakes has killed more than 800 people and injured at least 2,800, authorities say as they warn that the death toll could rise.
Helicopters ferried the wounded to hospital on Monday in the eastern provinces of Kunar and Nangarhar as officials combed the rubble for survivors after a magnitude 6 tremor hit just before midnight on Sunday.
At least 812 people have died, government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said at a news conference on Monday, as the disaster further stretches the resources of the war-torn nation already grappling with poverty, drops in humanitarian aid, and the pushback of hundreds of thousands of Afghan refugees and migrants by neighbouring countries.
The 6.0 magnitude quake hit towns in the province of Kunar, near the city of Jalalabad in neighboring Nangarhar province, causing extensive damage.
The quake at 11:47 p.m. was centered 27 kilometers (17 miles) east-northeast of Jalalabad, the U.S. Geological Survey said. It was just 8 kilometers (5 miles) deep. Shallower quakes tend to cause more damage. Several aftershocks followed
Footage showed rescuers carrying injured people on stretchers from collapsed buildings and into helicopters as people frantically dug through rubble with their hands.
The Taliban government’s chief spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahedin said at a press conference Monday that the death toll had risen to at least 800 with more than 2,500 injured. He said most of the casualties were in Kunar.
Reportedly, a resident in Nurgal district, one of the worst-affected areas in Kunar, said nearly the entire village was destroyed, children are under the rubble. The elderly are under the rubble. Young people are under the rubble,” he said.
“We need help here,” he pleaded. “We need people to come here and join us. Let us pull out the people who are buried. There is no one who can come and remove dead bodies from under the rubble.”Eastern Afghanistan is mountainous, with remote areas.
The quake has worsened communications. Blocked roads are forcing aid workers to walk four or five hours to reach survivors. Dozens of flights have operated in and out of Nangarhar Airport, transporting the injured to hospital.One survivor described seeing homes collapse before his eyes and people screaming for help.
Rescue operations were underway and medical team from Kunar, Nangarhar and the capital Kabul have arrived in the area, said Sharafat Zaman, a health ministry spokesman.
Zaman said many areas had not been able to report casualty figures and that “the numbers were expected to change” as deaths and injuries are reported. The chief spokesman, Muhahid said helicopters had reached some areas but road travel was difficult.
“There are some villages where the injured and dead haven’t been recovered from the rubble, so that’s why the numbers may increase,” he told journalists.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi
said the earthquake intensified existing humanitarian challenges in Afghanistan and urged international donors to support relief efforts.
“This adds death and destruction to other challenges including drought and the forced return of millions of Afghans from neighbouring countries,” Grandi wrote on the social media platform X. “Hopefully the donor community will not hesitate to support relief efforts.”
A magnitude 6.3 earthquake struck Afghanistan on Oct. 7, 2023, followed by strong aftershocks. The Taliban government estimated at least 4,000 people perished in that quake.
The U.N. gave a far lower death toll of about 1,500. It was the deadliest natural disaster to strike Afghanistan in recent memory.
The latest earthquake was likely to “dwarf the scale of the humanitarian needs” caused by the disaster of 2023, according to the International Rescue Committee.
