OCHA: Afghanistan Quake Kills Over 2,100, Majority Women and Children

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has confirmed that more than 2,100 people were killed in Afghanistan’s recent devastating earthquake, with women and children making up the majority of the casualties.

According to OCHA’s Thursday update, 2,164 people lost their lives, including 516 women, 476 men, 509 girls, and 663 boys. The breakdown highlights the disproportionate impact of the tragedy on families, particularly children.

The 6.0-magnitude earthquake struck Afghanistan’s eastern provinces of Kunar and Nangarhar just over ten days ago, leveling homes, destroying infrastructure, and leaving tens of thousands of survivors without adequate shelter or food. Villages in remote mountainous areas were among the hardest hit, where many families lived in mud-brick houses that collapsed within seconds of the tremors.

Humanitarian agencies have so far managed to provide food assistance to more than 60,800 people, while at least 1,000 displaced individuals have received tents or temporary housing. Despite these efforts, aid groups warn that assistance remains far below the scale of need, and the rapidly approaching winter threatens to deepen the crisis.

OCHA noted that survivors face severe shortages of food, medicine, and safe shelter, with many families still sleeping in the open or in damaged homes at risk of further collapse. Health facilities in the affected provinces have also been overwhelmed, struggling to treat the injured amid a lack of medical supplies and staff.

International aid organizations stress that urgent global assistance is required to prevent further deaths, particularly among vulnerable groups such as children, the elderly, and pregnant women. “Without an immediate scale-up in humanitarian support, the risk of secondary crises—such as disease outbreaks, malnutrition, and exposure to freezing temperatures—will rise sharply,” one aid worker cautioned.

The disaster has once again underscored Afghanistan’s extreme vulnerability to natural disasters, including earthquakes, droughts, and floods, which regularly devastate communities already weakened by decades of conflict, poverty, and political instability. Experts note that Afghanistan sits on several seismic fault lines, making earthquakes a recurring and deadly threat.

At the same time, the international humanitarian response is constrained by funding shortages and limited global attention, as multiple crises worldwide compete for donor support. The UN has repeatedly appealed for sustained funding to meet Afghanistan’s humanitarian needs, warning that millions remain at risk even before the latest disaster.

For survivors of the quake, however, the priority is survival. As one local resident told relief agencies, “We lost everything—our homes, our loved ones. Now the cold nights are coming, and we have nowhere safe to stay.”