More than 800 people have been killed and close to 3,000 others injured after a magnitude-six earthquake struck eastern Afghanistan late on Sunday night, according to the United Nations’ humanitarian agency. Officials have stated that most of the deaths have occurred in Kunar province, while warning that the toll may rise sharply in the coming days because entire villages have been destroyed by the powerful tremor. Rescue efforts have been slowed by the earthquake’s epicentre being located in a remote mountainous region. “The scale of devastation is unimaginable,” a Taliban official said, as authorities reported overwhelming destruction across rugged terrain.
The earthquake struck at 23:47 local time (19:47 GMT) about 27km (17 miles) east of Jalalabad, the fifth-largest city in Afghanistan, in the eastern Nangarhar province. The timing of the quake, occurring just before midnight, left residents scrambling from their homes in panic. The disaster hit as Afghanistan is already suffering from severe drought conditions, reduced aid, and what the World Food Programme has described as an unprecedented crisis of hunger.
Firsthand Accounts of Terror
Residents across the region described the terrifying moments when the ground began to shake. Faridullah Fazli, who lives in Asadabad on the banks of the Kunar river, was fast asleep when the tremors struck. “There was a very strong earthquake, accompanied by sounds that were very scary,” he told the BBC. Fazli explained that he and many others were too afraid to sleep until morning because of the continuing aftershocks. “We didn’t sleep until morning. After the earthquake, there were small tremors, and there are still,” he added.
Fazli later went to a local clinic, where he helped move the bodies of the dead and the wounded into ambulances for transport to hospitals further south in Nangarhar province. “It was a very scary situation, just an atmosphere of fear and terror,” he said. In the village of Mazar Dara, in the Nurgal region, a resident reported that 95% of the community had been destroyed, with nearly every household sheltering between five and ten injured people.
Challenges of Rescue Operations
Kunar province, one of the hardest-hit areas, is known for its mountainous terrain and fragile housing. Most homes in the region are made from clay, stones, and mud, leaving them highly vulnerable to collapse during a quake. Roads in the province are often no more than narrow mud tracks winding along mountainsides, and recent heavy flooding and landslides had already blocked many of the main routes. With access by road severely limited, initial rescue efforts had to wait until daylight when helicopters were finally able to reach the area. More than 100 flights have since been carried out in clearer weather conditions to deliver aid and evacuate survivors.
“Entire villages are flattened, roads to deep mountainous areas are still closed. So now, for us, the priority is not finding dead under the rubble, but rather reaching out to those injured,” a Taliban official in Kunar province explained. “Most of the dead are under rubble. We are doing everything, but it doesn’t seem possible soon,” he added. Reports have already emerged of people trapped under rubble for hours, some of whom died before rescuers could reach them. Syed Raheem, a volunteer taking part in the rescue work, said that despite many lives being saved, the situation remains dire. “Some people sent us messages that there are houses that are destroyed, and some people are still under the rocks,” he told the BBC.
