At Least 800 Dead and 1,300 Injured After 6.0 Magnitude Earthquake Hits Afghanistan

At least 800 people have reportedly died, with a further 1,300 injured, after a powerful earthquake struck Afghanistan’s Kunar province.

At around 11:45 p.m. local time on Sunday, Aug. 31, a 6.0-magnitude earthquake struck Kunar, near the city of Jalalabad and its neighboring provinces, including Nangarhar, Laghman, Nuristan, and Panjshir, according to local news outlets Hasht-e Sobh and Khaama Press. Many people were buried underneath the rubble of collapsed buildings, while the mountainous terrain has made rescue operations challenging, Afghan-based outlet Hewad reported.

Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said the death toll currently stands at 800 people, per multiple outlets including NBC News and The Independent. Khaama Press reported that the number of injured is 1,300 according to the Taliban’s Ministry of Interior.

“Sadly, tonight’s earthquake has caused loss of life and property damage in some of our eastern provinces,” Zabihullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, said, according to Sky News. “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.”

The Taliban government is using helicopters to rescue those affected by the quake, as the mountainous terrain and landslides triggered by the natural disaster make providing aid challenging. 

Because the earthquake hit a remote mountainous area, “it will take time to get the exact information about human losses and damage to the infrastructure,” Sharafat Zaman, a spokesperson for the Afghan Public Health Ministry, said, per NBC.

“We have launched a massive rescue operation and mobilized hundreds of people to help people in the affected areas,” Zaman added.

“Unconfirmed reports indicate that nearly 30 people from one village have been killed, but so far there are no exact figures regarding the casualties,” the spokesman also said, per the BBC.

Three villages were “completely destroyed and suffered heavy damage”, he continued, before adding that the death toll is expected to rise and there is limited access and communication in the area.

Dr. Muladad, the head of the provincial hospital in Asadabad, the provincial capital of Kunar, told the BBC that they have been admitting “one patient every five minutes” since the earthquake.

He described the situation as a “crisis,” having declared an emergency at the hospital.

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The Afghanistan National Disaster Management Authority and the Ministry of Public Health did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for further information on Monday, Sept. 1.

Before the quake struck, the provinces of Nangarhar and Kunar had been affected by flash floods, which killed multiple people, per the BBC.

Afghanistan is particularly prone to natural disasters. Back in 2023, a series of earthquakes in the country’s west killed over 1,000 people, after a thousand had died the year prior in the Paktika province due to a quake.