Afghan Quake Leaves 1,200 Dead, Thousands Injured, Rescue Efforts Hampered in Remote Areas

The death toll from the devastating earthquake that struck eastern Afghanistan on Sunday night has risen to more than 1,200, with around 3,000 people injured, according to Afghan health authorities. Officials cautioned that these numbers remain preliminary, as emergency teams have not yet reached many of the remote and mountainous villages affected by the disaster.

Al Jazeera’s correspondent reported from Kunar Province in eastern Afghanistan, noting that local authorities face enormous challenges in reaching stricken areas due to damaged roads, rugged terrain, and ongoing aftershocks.

Afghan government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid confirmed that some villages remain inaccessible by land, forcing rescue teams to rely on helicopters. He said that search-and-rescue operations are still underway, with bodies and survivors being pulled from beneath the rubble of collapsed homes.

The 6.2-magnitude quake struck Kunar Province, near the border with Pakistan, at a shallow depth of 10 kilometers, according to the German Research Center for Geosciences (GFZ). The tremors were felt across a wide area, shaking cities from Kabul to Islamabad just before midnight, startling millions of people from their sleep.

In the town of Wadir, a remote mountainous community on the edge of Kunar, the devastation is nearly total. According to residents, almost every family has suffered loss, with each household mourning at least one dead or wounded loved one. Every home bears scars of destruction, from collapsed walls to deep cracks that have rendered houses uninhabitable.

At the site of one destroyed home, rescuers—arriving by helicopter—were greeted as heroes by desperate villagers. Working side by side with locals, they began clearing rubble despite the threat of continuing aftershocks. One relief worker told reporters he had just pulled a woman alive from the ruins.
“She kept asking about her children who were still trapped inside,” he said, before returning to the dangerous search.

Every few hours, helicopters arrive in the devastated area, landing to the sound of anxious crowds. Soldiers distribute food, water, and emergency supplies, while carrying out the wounded on stretchers. Many of the injured—men, women, and children who had been asleep when the earthquake struck—are transported to Jalalabad’s central hospital, about 40 kilometers away in neighboring Nangarhar Province, for urgent treatment.

The quake is among the deadliest natural disasters to hit Afghanistan in recent decades, striking a country already grappling with economic collapse, limited medical infrastructure, and a dire humanitarian crisis. Aid groups warn that without immediate international assistance, the toll could climb even higher in the coming days.

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