On this picture launched by the Ministry of Public Well being, Afghans donate blood for victims of an earthquake that killed a whole lot and destroyed quite a few villages in jap Afghanistan, at Nangarhar Regional Hospital in Nangarhar, Monday, Sept. 1, 2025.
AP/Afghanistan Ministry of Public Well being
disguise caption
toggle caption
AP/Afghanistan Ministry of Public Well being
KABUL, Afghanistan — An earthquake destroyed quite a few villages in jap Afghanistan, killed not less than 620 folks and injured greater than 1,300, a spokesman for the Taliban authorities stated Monday.
The 6.0 magnitude quake late Sunday hit a collection of cities within the province of Kunar, close to the town of Jalalabad in neighboring Nangahar province, inflicting intensive harm.
Footage from Nangarhar confirmed folks frantically digging by means of rubble with their fingers, trying to find family members at midnight. The injured had been stretchered out of collapsed buildings and into helicopters. Villagers in Kunar gave interviews outdoors their wrecked properties.
The quake at 11:47 p.m. was centered 27 kilometers (17 miles) east-northeast of the town of Jalalabad in Nangarhar province, the U.S. Geological Survey stated. It was simply 8 kilometers (5 miles) deep. Shallower quakes are likely to trigger extra harm. A number of aftershocks adopted.
Inside Ministry spokesman Abdul Matin Qani instructed The Related Press that 610 folks had been killed and 1,300 injured in Kunar and a dozen folks died and a whole lot had been injured in Nangarhar. Many homes had been destroyed.
Buildings in Afghanistan are usually low-rise constructions, principally of concrete and brick, with properties in rural and outlying areas product of mud bricks and wooden. Many are of poor development.
One resident in Nurgal district, one of many worst-affected areas in Kunar, stated virtually all the village had collapsed.
“Youngsters are beneath the rubble. The aged are beneath the rubble. Younger individuals are beneath the rubble,” stated the villager, who didn’t give his identify. “We’d like assist right here,” he pleaded. “We’d like folks to return right here and be a part of us. Allow us to pull out the people who find themselves buried. There is no such thing as a one who can come and take away lifeless our bodies from beneath the rubble.”
Japanese Afghanistan is mountainous, with distant areas. The quake has worsened communications.
Rescue operations are underway and medical groups from Kunar, Nangarhar and the capital Kabul have arrived within the space, stated Sharafat Zaman, a well being ministry spokesman.
Zaman stated many areas had not been capable of report casualty figures and that “the numbers had been anticipated to alter” as deaths and accidents are reported. The Taliban authorities’s chief spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, stated “all accessible sources can be utilized to avoid wasting lives.”
Close by Jalalabad is a bustling commerce metropolis as a consequence of its proximity with neighboring Pakistan and a key border crossing between the international locations. Though it has a inhabitants of about 300,000 in line with the municipality, it is metropolitan space is regarded as far bigger.
Jalalabad additionally has appreciable agriculture and farming, together with citrus fruit and rice, with the Kabul River flowing by means of the town.
A magnitude 6.3 earthquake struck Afghanistan on Oct. 7, 2023, adopted by sturdy aftershocks. The Taliban authorities estimated not less than 4,000 folks perished in that quake.
The U.N. gave a far decrease loss of life toll of about 1,500. It was the deadliest pure catastrophe to strike Afghanistan in latest reminiscence.
