More than 600 people have been killed and over 1,000 injured after a powerful earthquake struck eastern Afghanistan late Sunday night, flattening villages and leaving survivors scrambling for safety.

The 6.0-magnitude quake struck at 11:47 p.m. local time, with its epicenter in Kunar province, near the border with Pakistan, about 17 miles northeast of the city of Jalalabad in neighboring Nangarhar. According to Afghanistan’s Interior Ministry, at least 622 people were confirmed dead by Monday morning, though officials warn the toll is expected to rise sharply as rescue efforts continue.

Villages leveled, rescue operations underway

Taliban health ministry spokesman Sharafat Zaman said several villages were “completely destroyed” by the quake. Rescue teams from Kunar, Nangarhar, and Kabul have been dispatched, but access to remote mountainous areas remains limited.

“The figures for martyrs and injured are changing,” Zaman told reporters. “Medical teams have arrived, but many districts are still cut off.”

By late Monday, Interior Ministry spokesman Abdul Mateen Qani reported 610 deaths and 1,300 injuries in Kunar province alone, with an additional 12 killed and 255 injured in Nangarhar.

Local hospitals, already under strain from shortages of medicine and equipment, are struggling to treat the wounded. Survivors described desperate scenes as neighbors tried to dig through rubble with their bare hands in the search for relatives.

A shallow quake was felt across the region

The U.S. Geological Survey confirmed the quake had a depth of just five miles. Shallow quakes tend to cause more severe destruction, particularly in areas where buildings are poorly constructed.

The tremors were felt hundreds of miles away, shaking buildings in Kabul and Islamabad, Pakistan’s capital. About 20 minutes later, a 4.5-magnitude aftershock struck the same area, compounding the destruction.

Many of the homes in Kunar and Nangarhar provinces are made of mud bricks, stone, and wood, leaving them especially vulnerable to collapse. Survivors in the border regions of Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province also reported damage, though officials there have yet to confirm casualties.

Jalalabad and the surrounding areas were hit hard

The nearby city of Jalalabad, a key trading hub with a population of roughly 300,000, also suffered damage. While its central districts have more concrete buildings, many outlying neighborhoods consist of fragile, low-rise housing. Residents described panic as the ground shook for several seconds, sending families fleeing into the streets.

Compounding the disaster, Nangarhar province was struck by flash floods just two nights earlier, killing five people and destroying homes and crops.

Struggles for aid under Taliban rule

Afghanistan’s government, led by the Taliban since 2021, said that no foreign governments have yet offered direct assistance for rescue or relief efforts. International aid to the country has declined sharply since the Taliban takeover, leaving emergency response systems underfunded and underprepared.

Humanitarian organizations, however, are monitoring the situation. Groups such as the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) have previously stepped in during disasters, but logistical challenges and political isolation often delay support.

Afghanistan’s deadly earthquake history

Afghanistan lies near the junction of the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates, making it one of the most earthquake-prone regions in the world.

  • In October 2023, a 6.3-magnitude quake in western Afghanistan killed at least 1,500 people, according to the U.N., though Taliban authorities put the toll closer to 4,000.
  • In June 2022, another earthquake in Paktika province left more than 1,000 dead and thousands homeless.

Sunday night’s quake is one of the deadliest to strike the eastern provinces in recent years.

A rising toll

As night fell on Monday, officials warned that many communities had yet to be reached and the death toll could rise significantly once rescuers had access to remote villages.

For now, survivors are left grieving loved ones, treating the injured in overcrowded hospitals, and bracing for further aftershocks.

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