Over 800 feared dead in Afghanistan quake

New Delhi, Sept 1: More than 800 people are feared dead after a magnitude 6.0 earthquake struck eastern Afghanistan late Sunday night, the United Nations' humanitarian agency said, BBC reported.

Earlier, in a statement, the Taliban ministry reported 610 deaths in Kunar province and another 12 in neighbouring Nangarhar, bringing the confirmed toll to 622. Around 23000 people have been injured, with officials warning the numbers could rise as rescue operations continue in remote, mountainous areas. The quake, centred in Kunar’s Norgal district at a shallow depth of 8km, caused houses to collapse in the Mazar valley and surrounding villages. Taliban authorities said entire communities had been flattened, with dozens of homes buried under rubble.

The tremor struck while families were asleep, leaving many trapped inside their homes.

Rescue efforts are hampered by difficult terrain. Villages in the area are connected only by narrow mud tracks that twist through the mountains, many of which have been blocked by landslides and flooding. Some settlements can only be reached by air.  BBC reported that the US Geological Survey (USGS) said the quake’s shallow depth made it particularly destructive, and warned that casualty figures could be in the hundreds. The tremors were felt as far away as Kabul and Pakistan’s capital Islamabad, over 300km from the epicentre.

Afghanistan is highly vulnerable to earthquakes as it lies on multiple fault lines. In October 2023, a series of quakes in Herat province killed more than 1,000 people. In June 2022, another tremor in Paktika province left over 1,000 dead. With communications cut and access restricted, aid agencies say the full scale of devastation is still unclear. The Taliban government has appealed for urgent international assistance to help with rescue and relief in the affected provinces.