More than 600 people have been killed and over 1,500 injured in one of Afghanistan’s deadliest earthquakes in recent history, officials confirmed on Monday. Rescue helicopters were seen airlifting the wounded to hospitals as emergency teams combed through rubble in search of survivors.
The tragedy adds further strain to Afghanistan, a country already struggling with multiple humanitarian challenges — from dwindling international aid to the forced return of migrants from neighboring states.
According to the Taliban-run Interior Ministry, the 6.0-magnitude quake struck the eastern provinces of Kunar and Nangarhar, leaving at least 622 dead, more than 1,500 injured, and hundreds of homes destroyed.
“All our teams have been deployed to speed up relief operations and ensure that full support is provided,” ministry spokesperson Abdul Maten Qanee told Reuters, highlighting efforts ranging from security and shelter to food and medical care.
In Kabul, health officials said rescue teams were rushing to reach remote villages scattered across the quake-hit region, an area long vulnerable to both earthquakes and floods.
According to Afghanistan’s state-run Bakhtar News Agency, officials from the Kunar Disaster Management Department reported that the worst-affected districts include Noor Gul, Chawkay, Watapur, Mano Gai, and Chapa Dara.
According to Najibullah Hanif, Kunar’s provincial information chief, initial reports indicated at least 600 deaths and 1500 injuries, though he warned that the numbers were likely to rise as more information comes in. In one village alone, officials reported 30 fatalities, while hundreds of injured people have already been taken to nearby hospitals.
Rescue teams are racing against time to locate survivors in the quake-hit border areas near Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where traditional mud and stone homes crumbled under the impact of the midnight earthquake, which struck at a shallow depth of just 10 kilometres.
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