JALALABAD: A massive rescue operation continues in Afghanistan after a strong earthquake and multiple aftershocks flattened homes in a remote mountainous region.
Taliban authorities confirmed more than 800 people died in the disaster which struck just before midnight on Monday.
The earthquake shook buildings from Kabul to neighbouring Pakistan’s capital Islamabad with more than 1.2 million people experiencing strong shaking.
Chief Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid reported approximately 800 deaths and 2,500 injuries in remote Kunar province alone.
Another twelve people died and 255 were injured in neighbouring Nangarhar province according to official statements.
Interior ministry spokesman Abdul Mateen Qani confirmed numerous houses were destroyed across the affected regions.
Most Afghans live in low-rise mud-brick homes that are particularly vulnerable to collapse during seismic events.
The United Nations migration agency warned some severely impacted villages remain inaccessible due to road blockages.
Both Taliban authorities and United Nations teams mobilised rescue efforts to hard-hit areas with forty flight sorties conducted so far.
A member of Kunar’s agricultural department described people rushing to clear blocked roads to isolated villages.
Ijaz Ulhaq Yaad told AFP that children and women were screaming with many experiencing such devastation for the first time.
He noted many residents in quake-hit villages were among over four million Afghans who recently returned from Iran and Pakistan.
The earthquake struck at a shallow depth of eight kilometres twenty-seven kilometres from Jalalabad city.
Nangarhar and Kunar provinces border Pakistan where many Afghan returnees have been deported or forced to leave.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed full solidarity with the people of Afghanistan after the devastating earthquake.
A series of at least five aftershocks followed throughout the night with the strongest measuring magnitude 5.2.
Afghanistan experiences frequent earthquakes especially in the Hindu Kush mountain range near tectonic plate junctions.
Nangarhar province faced additional challenges after flooding killed five people and destroyed crops just days earlier.
Western Herat province suffered a devastating earthquake in October 2023 that killed more than 1,500 people.
Paktika province experienced a deadly earthquake in June 2022 that killed over 1,000 people and left thousands homeless.
Foreign aid reductions since the Taliban’s return have further hampered Afghanistan’s ability to respond to disasters. – AFP
