 "800 dead and counting… Why toll from 6.0 Afghanistan earthquake is so high")
Sunday night turned into a nightmare for Afghanistan as a 6.0-strong earthquake rocked the mountainous eastern region of Kunar. A massive rescue operation is now underway after the quake and its subsequent aftershocks — at least five have been recorded so far — flattened homes, killing more than 800 people and at least another 2,500 being injured.
The quake struck just before midnight, around 11.47 pm, rocking buildings from Kabul to neighbouring Pakistan’s capital Islamabad.
Authorities note that the death toll is likely to increase, making it one of the deadliest in the area. A 6.3-earthquake and strong aftershocks struck Afghanistan on October 7, 2023, killing at least 1,500 people.
Afghanistan rocked by deadly quake
As people slept on Sunday night, a powerful quake, measuring six on the Richter Scale, struck eastern Afghanistan with the United States Geological Survey noting that its epicentre was just 27 kilometres away from Jalalabad, Afghanistan’s fifth-largest city, and around 140 km from the capital Kabul. The USGS added that the quake hit at a comparatively shallow depth of 8 km. This is important to note as shallower quakes cause more damage.
There was a second earthquake in the same province about 20 minutes later, with a magnitude of 4.5 and a depth of 10 km. This was later followed by a 5.2 earthquake at the same depth.
❗️🇦🇫 - On August 31, 2025, a 6.0-magnitude earthquake struck Kunar Province, Afghanistan, near Pakistan, killing at least 250 and injuring over 500, per Bakhtar News Agency.
— 🔥🗞The Informant (@theinformant_x) September 1, 2025
Centered 27 km east-northeast of Jalalabad at a shallow 8 km depth, the quake caused severe damage in… pic.twitter.com/CQABKwbOkv
The temblor caused significant damage; homes of mud and stone were reduced to rubble with several villages being completely destroyed in the Kunar province. Some 800 people have died and another 2,500 were injured in Kunar, Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told a press conference in the capital Kabul, adding that the toll of 12 dead and 255 injured in Nangarhar province had not changed.
A resident of Nurgal district, which is one of the worst-affected areas, was quoted as telling the Associated Press, “Children are under the rubble. The elderly are under the rubble. Young people are under the rubble. 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.”
Deeply saddened by the loss of hundreds of lives and the destruction caused by the earthquake in Kunar and Eastern Afghanistan. Condolences to the families who have lost their loved ones. The scale of the devastation is shocking. Intl community has to provide support to Afghans. pic.twitter.com/my1MGYuXEj
— Mohsin Dawar (@mjdawar) September 1, 2025
Zabihullah Mujahid, a Taliban government spokesman, was also quoted as saying, “Sadly, tonight’s earthquake has caused loss of life and property damage in some of our eastern provinces. Local officials and residents are currently engaged in rescue efforts for the affected people.
“Support teams from the centre and nearby provinces are also on their way.”
Footage on social media showed people searching the ruins of buildings for survivors. One video appeared to show a helicopter full of soldiers arriving in Kunar Province. A video from Reuters shows injured people rescued from the quake being pulled from a helicopter on stretchers at a military base in Jalalabad. Other images from the city show casualties lying on beds and being treated at hospital.
Speaking on fatalities and injured people, a doctor at the provincial hospital in Asadabad, the provincial capital of Kunar, told BBC that they were struggling with the influx of patients. He said they are admitting “one patient every five minutes” and the whole hospital is full of injured people.
Factors hindering rescue operations
Authorities expect the number of deaths and injuries being reported to increase. That’s because of a number of factors.
Firstly, the quake has struck some of Afghanistan’s most mountainous regions. These areas are extremely difficult to reach, which will hamper current search and rescue operations. As Sharafat Zaman, a spokesperson for the health ministry, said in a statement on Monday, “The number of casualties and injuries is high, but since the area is difficult to access, our teams are still on site.”
Moreover, the poor conditions of roads leading to the areas where the quake struck is also proving to be a challenge. The BBC has reported that the road leading to the epicentre has been blocked because of a landslide, so the Taliban government is using helicopters to get people out. Even Al Jazeera’s Mohsin Momand, who is in Kabul, reported that the conditions of the roads are challenging rescue operations.
“The roads are not paved. Mostly, they are covered with rocks because of the earthquake, and it’s very difficult to go there right now,” Momand said. “So it’s obviously difficult for the authorities to rescue people at the moment,” he said, adding that most of the houses in the struck areas are made of mud, which is why they collapsed easily.
Thamindri de Silva, national director of World Vision Afghanistan, also told Al Jazeera, “This is one of the most remote and also one of the poorest parts of Afghanistan.”
Due to the fragile infrastructure, de Silva said an earthquake causes buildings to “very easily collapse”, meaning “a lot of people will be buried”. “Time truly is of the essence when it comes to this situation.”
Another reason exacerbating the situation is the economic crisis that the country finds itself in. With the Taliban in charge of Afghanistan, the country has experienced deep cuts to international humanitarian aid, which has worsened the food and medical shortage in the country. And amidst this, comes the double whammy of a quake, causing unprecedented damage.
The Taliban has already issued an urgent appeal for aid to the country from foreign governments as well as countries. However, it will take time for the help to reach the most affected people. In fact, India has already extended a helping hand with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar saying that India would “extend assistance in this hour of need” to Afghanistan, expressing “solidarity to Afghan people”.
Afghanistan’s history of quakes
Sunday’s quake is yet another temblor that the country has experienced. Afghanistan is prone to deadly earthquakes as it sits atop a number of fault lines. Also, there’s frequent movement among the three nearby tectonic plates.
A magnitude 6.3 temblor rocked Afghanistan on October 7, 2023, along with strong aftershocks. The Taliban government estimated that at least 4,000 perished. However, the UN estimated that about 1,500 died. It was the deadliest natural disaster to strike Afghanistan in recent memory. More than 90 per cent of those killed were women and children, UNICEF said.
Prior to that, a 5.9 magnitude earthquake struck parts of eastern Afghanistan in June 2022, killing more than 1,000 people and injuring more than 1,500 others.
With inputs from agencies
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