NŪRGAL, Afghanistan — The death toll from a devastating earthquake that struck eastern Afghanistan has climbed to more than 2 200 people, making it the deadliest seismic disaster to hit the war-torn country in nearly three decades.
The magnitude-6.0 earthquake jolted the mountainous region near the Pakistan border late Sunday, with the hardest-hit Kunar province reporting 2 205 deaths and 3 640 injuries. Neighboring Nangarhar and Laghman provinces recorded dozens more fatalities and hundreds of additional injuries.
Rescue operations have been severely hampered by landslides and rockfall that blocked already poor mountain roads. The situation worsened Thursday night when a 5.6-magnitude aftershock struck near the original epicenter, shaking buildings as far away as Kabul and Islamabad, Pakistan.
Survivors face desperate conditions
The earthquake destroyed more than 6 700 homes in Kunar province alone, leaving thousands of survivors exposed to the elements with minimal aid reaching the remote areas.
“We urgently need tents, water, food and medicine,” said Zahir Khan Safi, 48, speaking from a corn field where his family and hundreds of others have taken shelter under scraps of tarpaulin salvaged from the rubble. “Yesterday, some people brought some food, everyone flooded on them, people are starving, we haven’t had anything to eat for a long time. There was a fight over food.”
The past 24 hours saw the death toll rise by more than 700 as rescue teams continued searching through debris, according to Taliban authorities.
“Hundreds of bodies have been recovered from destroyed houses during search and rescue operations,” said deputy government spokesman Hamdullah Fitrat. “Rescue efforts are still ongoing.”
International aid response
Various countries have dispatched emergency assistance, with China pledging approximately $7 million in relief supplies including tents, blankets and food on Thursday.
However, Afghanistan’s deteriorated infrastructure, weakened by four decades of conflict, has severely hampered relief efforts. Save the Children reported that aid workers must carry supplies on foot for hours through treacherous mountain terrain to reach villages cut off by landslides.
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“A rolling wave of aftershocks in eastern Afghanistan is terrifying children who have lost families and homes in the country’s deadliest earthquake in nearly 30 years,” the organization stated.
The World Health Organization warned that local healthcare services are “under immense strain,” facing critical shortages of trauma supplies, medicines and medical staff. The agency has appealed for $4 million to fund lifesaving health interventions and expand mobile health services.
Filippo Grandi, head of the United Nations refugee agency, said the earthquake has “affected more than 500,000 people” across eastern Afghanistan.
Compounding humanitarian crisis
The disaster strikes a nation already grappling with one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. The loss of U.S. foreign aid earlier this year has further strained relief organizations operating in Afghanistan.
The country faces endemic poverty, severe drought, and an influx of millions of Afghan refugees forced to return from Pakistan and Iran following the Taliban’s takeover in 2021.
This earthquake marks the seventh strong aftershock recorded by the U.S. Geological Survey since Sunday’s initial tremor, keeping survivors in a constant state of fear as they struggle to rebuild their shattered lives.
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