Afghanistan Earthquake Death Toll Rises Over 800

Afghanistan Earthquake Death Toll Rises Over 800

A powerful earthquake has devastated parts of eastern Afghanistan, claiming the lives of more than 800 people and leaving at least 2,800 injured as search-and-rescue operations continue into Monday morning.

The magnitude 6.0 tremor struck near Jalalabad, close to the border with Pakistan, just before midnight local time, causing widespread destruction in Kunar and Nangarhar provinces.

Villages in these mountainous regions have been reduced to rubble. Rescue teams, hampered by landslides and debris-blocked roads, have been working tirelessly to extract survivors from the remains of collapsed homes, often using their bare hands in desperate conditions.

Helicopters have been deployed to ferry the wounded to hospitals, and officials warn that the death toll may continue to rise as information emerges from remote areas.

The disaster comes as Afghanistan faces humanitarian crises stemming from reduced international aid and recent mass returns of citizens from neighboring countries, stretching already limited resources.

Taliban officials have called for urgent international assistance to address the scale of destruction and the growing number of victims.

The quake struck at a shallow depth of just 8 to 10 kilometers, dramatically increasing its impact. Aftershocks have continued to rattle the region, further complicating rescue efforts and raising fears of additional casualties.

Eastern Afghanistan is prone to deadly seismic activity, lying atop fault lines where the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates meet.

As communities grieve and struggle to recover, authorities warn that numbers of dead and injured are likely to rise further, with many families still searching for missing loved ones under the ruins.