Image Source: Agencies

Sept 2, 2025: Desperate Afghans clawed through rubble in search of missing loved ones after a strong earthquake killed some 800 people and injured more than 2,500 in eastern Afghanistan, according to figures provided on Monday by the Taliban government.

The late-Sunday 6.0 magnitude earthquake caused extensive damage to towns in the Kunar province, near the city of Jalalabad in the neighboring Nangarhar province. One resident in Nurgal district, one of the worst-affected areas in Kunar, said nearly the entire village was destroyed.

“Children are under the rubble. The elderly are under the rubble. Young people are under the rubble,” said the villager, who did not give his name.
He begged, "We need help here." “We need people to come here and join us. Let us extricate the buried people. There is no one who can come and remove dead bodies from under the rubble.”

The quake hit just before midnight and was centred 27 kilometres east-northeast of Jalalabad at a depth of 8 kilometres, the US Geological Survey said. Shallower quakes tend to cause more damage. Several aftershocks followed.
Footage showed rescuers taking injured people on stretchers from collapsed buildings and into helicopters as people frantically dug through rubble with their hands.

The Taliban government’s chief spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, told a press conference on Monday that the death toll had risen to at least 800 with more than 2,500 injured. He said most of the casualties were in Kunar.
The quake was felt in parts of Pakistan, including the capital Islamabad. There were no reports of casualties or damage.

Homes collapsed and people screamed for help:
Eastern Afghanistan is mountainous, with remote areas and the quake has worsened communications. Blocked roads are forcing aid workers to walk four or five hours to reach survivors. Injured individuals have been transported to hospitals by dozens of flights that have entered and exited Nangarhar Airport. Buildings in Afghanistan tend to be low-rise constructions, mostly of concrete and brick, with homes in rural and outlying areas made from mud bricks and wood. Many are poorly built.

One survivor described seeing homes collapse before his eyes and people screaming for help.
According to Sadiqullah, who lives in the Maza Dara neighborhood of Nurgal, he was awoken by a loud boom that sounded like a storm was approaching. Like many Afghans, he uses only one name.
He ran to where his children were sleeping and rescued three of them. When the room fell on top of him, he was about to return to retrieve the rest of his family. “I was half-buried and unable to get out,” he told The Associated Press by phone from Nangarhar Hospital. "My father is injured and is in the hospital with me, and my wife and two sons are dead." We were trapped for three to four hours until people from other areas arrived and pulled me out.”
He described the sensation as if the entire mountain were shaking. ‘Numbers may increase’

According to Sharafat Zaman, a spokesman for the health ministry, rescue operations were underway and medical teams from Kunar, Nangarhar, and Kabul, the nation's capital, had arrived in the area. Zaman said many areas had not been able to report casualty figures and that “the numbers were expected to change” as deaths and injuries are reported.

The chief spokesman, Mujahid, said helicopters had reached some areas but road travel was difficult. “There are some villages where the injured and dead haven’t been recovered from the rubble, so that’s why the numbers may increase,” he told journalists.

Filippo Grandi, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, said the earthquake intensified existing humanitarian challenges in Afghanistan and urged international donors to support relief efforts.

“This adds death and destruction to other challenges including drought and the forced return of millions of Afghans from neighbouring countries,” Grandi wrote on X. “Hopefully the donor community will not hesitate to support relief efforts.”

Search and rescue support:
According to Sherine Ibrahim, the aid organization's country director, 2,000 casualties were reported within the first 12 hours and entire communities and roads were blocked off from hospitals and nearby towns. “Although we have been able to act fast, we are profoundly fearful for the additional strain this will have on the overall humanitarian response in Afghanistan,” said Ibrahim. “ Global funding cuts have dramatically hampered our ability to respond to the ongoing humanitarian crisis.”

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said in a statement that immediate needs include search and rescue support, emergency healthcare and medical supplies, food, clean water, and restoring road access to reach isolated communities.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said he was deeply saddened by events in Afghanistan. “Our hearts go out to the victims and their families. We are ready to extend all possible support in this regard,” he said on X.
In the past year, Pakistan has kicked out tens of thousands of Afghans, many of whom have been living in the country as refugees for decades. At least 1.2 million Afghans have been forced to return from Iran and Pakistan so far this year, according to a June report by UNHCR.

A magnitude 6.3 earthquake struck Afghanistan on October 7, 2023, followed by strong aftershocks. The Taliban government estimated at least 4,000 people perished in that quake.

The UN gave a lower death toll of about 1,500. It was the deadliest natural disaster to strike Afghanistan in recent memory.

According to the International Rescue Committee, the most recent earthquake on Sunday was likely to "dwarf the scale of the humanitarian needs" brought on by the disaster in 2023.