A 6.0 magnitude earthquake struck Kunar, near the city of Jalalabad, in neighbouring Nangarhar province, eastern Afghanistan, on Sunday, killing at least 812 people and injuring more than 3,000.
The administration spokesperson, Zabihullah Mujahid, revealed on September 1, that the quake struck at 11:47pm local time (19:17 GMT) destroying numerous villages. Houses made of mud and wood collapsed as helicopters were sent in to evacuate the injured.
Mujahid said the quake destroyed three villages in Kunar, with at least 610 people killed in Kunar and12 dead in Nangarhar.
The spokesperson for the Health Ministry, Sharafat Zaman, said the quake hit at a depth of 10 km (six miles)
Another Health Ministry’s spokesperson, Abdul Maten Qanee, citing efforts in areas from security to food and health, said “All our … teams have been mobilised to accelerate assistance, so that comprehensive and full support can be provided.”
The Defence Ministry said in a statement, that it had flown rescue teams out across the region, with 30 doctors and 800kg (1,764lb) of medicine into Kunar to support hospitals overwhelmed with casualties, with 40 flights carrying away 420 wounded and dead.
The ICIR reports that the earthquake is expected to put additional strain on the Taliban-led administration of the war-torn nation, which is already struggling with multiple humanitarian crises.
This marks Afghanistan’s third major deadly earthquake since the Taliban’s takeover in 2021, which coincided with the withdrawal of foreign forces and a sharp decline in international funding that once made up most of the government’s budget.
Afghanistan’s mountainous terrain makes it highly vulnerable to earthquakes, as the country lies near the convergence of the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates, one of the world’s most active seismic zones.
In October 2015, a powerful 7.5-magnitude earthquake hit the Hindu Kush region in northeastern Afghanistan, claiming 272 lives. On January 17, 2022, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) reported that a shallow 5.3-magnitude quake struck Qadis district in Badghis province, western Afghanistan, killing at least 26 people.
In June 2022, a powerful 6.1-magnitude earthquake struck eastern Afghanistan, affecting the provinces of Paktika, Paktia, Khost, and Nangarhar, and killing more than 1,000 people as numerous homes collapsed.
Two earthquakes with magnitude 5.1 and magnitude 4.6 hit the neighbouring provinces of Kunar and Nangarhar in northeastern Afghanistan In September 2022, leaving at least eight people dead.
In October 2023, three earthquakes struck Herat province, marking one of Afghanistan’s deadliest natural disasters in recent years. The British Red Cross Society reported that at least 2,445 people lost their lives.
In March 2023, a 6.5-magnitude earthquake hit Afghanistan’s northeastern Badakhshan province, near the border with Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, killing at least 13 people.
Nanji is an investigative journalist with the ICIR. She has years of experience in reporting and broadcasting human angle stories, gender inequalities, minority stories, and human rights issues. She has documented sexual war crimes in armed conflict, sex for grades in Nigerian Universities, harmful traditional practices and human trafficking.