KABUL: More than 600 people were killed and over 1,500 injured in one of Afghanistan’s worst earthquakes, authorities said on Monday, as helicopters ferried the wounded to hospital after they were plucked from rubble being combed for survivors.
The disaster will further stretch the resources of the South Asian nation already grappling with humanitarian crises, from a sharp drop in aid to a huge pushback of its citizens from neighbouring countries.
The magnitude-6 quake killed at least 622 people in the eastern provinces of Kunar and Nangarhar, the Taliban-run Afghan interior ministry said, with more than 1,500 injured and numerous houses destroyed.
“All our […] teams have been mobilised to accelerate assistance, so that comprehensive and full support can be provided,” ministry spokesperson Abdul Maten Qanee told Reuters, citing efforts in areas from security to food and health.
In Kabul, the capital, health authorities said rescuers were racing to reach remote hamlets dotting an area with a long history of earthquakes and floods.
The earthquake was Afghanistan’s deadliest since June 2022, when tremors of magnitude 6.1 killed at least 1,000 people.
The quake razed three villages in Kunar, with substantial damage in many others, authorities said. At least 610 people were killed in Kunar, with 12 dead in Nangarhar, they added.
Rescuers were scrambling to find survivors in the area bordering Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region, where homes of mud and stone were levelled by the midnight quake that hit at a depth of 10 kilometres.
Military rescue teams fanned out across the two provinces, the defence ministry said in a statement, adding that 40 flights carried out 420 wounded and dead.
“So far, no foreign governments have reached out to provide support for rescue or relief work,” a foreign office spokesperson said.
Reacting to the fatalities, Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar extended condolences.
“On behalf of the Government and people of Pakistan, I extend our deepest condolences to the brotherly people and Government of Afghanistan for the tragic loss of precious lives caused by the devastating earthquake that struck Eastern Afghanistan last night,” Dar said in a post on X.
“Our hearts go out to the families and communities affected by this calamity. We pray for the swift recovery of those injured and for strength to all those impacted during this difficult time,” he added.
Afghanistan is prone to deadly earthquakes, particularly in the Hindu Kush mountain range, where the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates meet.
A series of earthquakes in its west killed more than 1,000 people last year, underscoring the vulnerability of one of the world’s poorest countries to natural disasters.
