A powerful 6.0 magnitude earthquake struck late Sunday night, killing at least 800 people and injuring over 2,500, according to Taliban officials. The quake hit hardest in Kunar province, near the city of Jalalabad in neighboring Nangarhar. The U.S. Geological Survey said it was a shallow quake—just 8 kilometers (5 miles) deep—making the destruction even more severe.
As buildings collapsed around them, Afghans were forced to dig through the rubble with bare hands, trying to rescue family members in the dead of night. The scenes on the ground are gut-wrenching. Entire villages leveled. Screams for help echoing in the dark. Stretchers carrying the wounded through debris-strewn streets. Helicopters ferrying the injured to hospitals that are already overwhelmed.
“Children are under the rubble. The elderly are under the rubble. Young people are under the rubble,” said a villager from the devastated Nurgal district. “We need help here. 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.”
This earthquake, which hit at 11:47 p.m., brought back chilling memories of the devastating 6.3 quake in October 2023 that killed thousands. That quake was already labeled the deadliest natural disaster in recent Afghan history. Now, it may have a contender.
Homes in rural Afghanistan—built from mud bricks, wood, and poorly reinforced concrete—stood no chance.
One survivor, Sadiqullah, spoke from his hospital bed in Nangarhar. “I was half-buried and unable to get out,” he said. He had rescued three of his children when the room collapsed on him. His wife and two sons didn’t make it. “My wife and two sons are dead, and my father is injured and in hospital with me. We were trapped for three to four hours until people from other areas arrived and pulled me out.”
“It felt like the whole mountain was shaking,” he said.
Entire mountain roads have been cut off by landslides, and communications are down in large swaths of the region. Aid workers are walking four to five hours just to reach the most remote villages. Helicopters have started airlifting the wounded from inaccessible areas, but ground travel remains nearly impossible.
“There are some villages where the injured and dead haven’t been recovered from the rubble, so that’s why the numbers may increase,” said Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid at a press conference Monday.
The Afghan Health Ministry confirmed rescue teams from Kunar, Nangarhar, and Kabul are on the ground, but it’s a race against time. “The numbers are expected to change,” said spokesman Sharafat Zaman, noting that many areas have yet to report full casualty figures.
This disaster strikes a country already on its knees. Drought, poverty, economic isolation, and the forced return of millions of Afghan refugees from neighboring countries have pushed Afghanistan’s humanitarian crisis to a breaking point.
“This adds death and destruction to other challenges including drought and the forced return of millions of Afghans from neighbouring countries,” wrote UNHCR chief Filippo Grandi. “Hopefully the donor community will not hesitate to support relief efforts.”
Sherine Ibrahim, country director for the International Rescue Committee, warned that the quake may “dwarf the scale of the humanitarian needs” seen during last year’s quake.
“Although we have been able to act fast, we are profoundly fearful for the additional strain this will have on the overall humanitarian response in Afghanistan,” she said. “Global funding cuts have dramatically hampered our ability to respond to the ongoing humanitarian crisis.”
Immediate needs, according to the Red Cross, include emergency healthcare, food, clean water, medical supplies, and access to isolated communities—many of which are unreachable due to destroyed infrastructure.
The tremors were felt as far away as Islamabad, Pakistan’s capital. Though no casualties or damage were reported there, the shock is more than physical. Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said he was “deeply saddened” by the tragedy. “Our hearts go out to the victims and their families. We are ready to extend all possible support in this regard,” he posted on X.
But the diplomatic sentiment is layered with tension. Over 1.2 million Afghans have been expelled from Iran and Pakistan this year, many of whom had lived abroad as refugees for decades. Now, many are returning to a country that can barely house or feed its own.
