Search for survivors after deadly Afghanistan earthquake

Rescuers are desperately searching for survivors in the rubble of homes flattened by an earthquake that struck eastern Afghanistan, killing more than 1,100 people.

The magnitude 6.0 earthquake^[1], followed by at least five aftershocks, hit remote areas in mountainous provinces near the border with Pakistan about midnight on Sunday.

The head of the Kunar Provincial Disaster Management Authority, Ehsanullah Ehsan, said on Tuesday that “operations continued throughout the night.”

He said there were “still injured people left in the distant villages” in need of evacuation to hospitals.

Villagers joined the rescue efforts, using their bare hands to clear debris from simple mud and stone homes built into steep valleys.

Some of the hardest-hit villages remain inaccessible due to blocked roads, said the UN migration agency.

The earthquake epicentre was about 27km (17 miles) from Jalalabad, according to the USGS, which said it struck at a shallow 8km^[2] (5 miles) below the Earth’s surface.

On Monday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a statement that the organisation was working with authorities to “swiftly assess needs, provide emergency assistance and stand ready to mobilise additional support”, while announcing an initial $5m in aid.

The death toll in the earthquake has risen to 1,124, the Afghan Red Crescent Society, a humanitarian group working in the region, said on Tuesday. At least 3,251 people have been injured and more than 8,000 houses have been destroyed in the disaster, the group said

Laghman province also has dozens of injured, according to government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid.

Relatively shallow quakes can cause more damage, especially since the majority of Afghans live in low-rise, mud-brick homes vulnerable to collapse.

In a post shared by the Vatican, Pope Leo XIV said he was “deeply saddened by the significant loss of life” caused by the quake.

Afghanistan is frequently hit by earthquakes, especially in the Hindu Kush mountain range, near the junction of the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates.

In October 2023, western Herat province was devastated by a magnitude 6.3 earthquake, which killed more than 2,000 people and damaged or destroyed more than 63,000 homes.

A magnitude 5.9 quake struck the eastern province of Paktika in June 2022, killing more than 1,000 people and leaving tens of thousands homeless.

References

1. ^{^} The magnitude 6.0 earthquake (www.aljazeera.com)
2. ^{^} shallow 8km (www.aljazeera.com)