More than 600 people have been confirmed dead after multiple earthquakes struck Eastern Afghanistan close to the Pakistan border.
At least 1,500 were injured according to Afghanistan’s interior ministry after the first quake, measured at magnitude 6.3, struck Kunar Province and Jalalabad city. Rescue efforts are underway, according to Afghanistan’s TOLO news agency. Hundreds of injured were taken to the the regional hospital in Kunar.
The Kunar disaster management authority said that the people were most affected in the districts of Nur, Gul Watpur, Manogi, and Chapadare.
The official death toll currently stands at 622, according to the interior ministry, Reuters reported.
The Afghan Red Crescent also reported that its medical team is providing emergency assistance to the affected areas.
The defence ministry of the country has flown about 30 doctors and 800 kilograms of medicine into Kunar to support the local hospitals.
The earthquake struck about 27 kilometres east of Jalalabad, a crowded trade city with a population of 300,000. The first quake struck only at a depth of around 8 km, making it a very shallow quake, which can be extremely destructive, especially to cities. Shallow quakes are said to occur at depths less than 70 km.
After a while, another quake, recorded at a magnitude 4.5 struck at a depth of 140 km near Basawal not far from the first one.
The Kunar province also suffered significant damage due to the fact that it was already flooded by rain last week.
The WHO Afghanistan said that their teams were on the ground in the hospitals treating the injured. Secratary-General of the UN Antonio Guterres said on X, “The UN team in Afghanistan is mobilized and will spare no effort to assist those in need in the affected areas.”
The quake was also felt in parts of Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, and India.
Afghanistan is prone to deadly earthquakes as its Hindu Kush mountains sit at the meeting of the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates.
The last deadly earthquake in the country was in 2023. About 2000 people were killed after a magnitude 6.3 quake struck the western province of Herat.
Hundreds dead and thousands injured after magnitude 6 earthquake strikes Afghanistan; rescue operations underway
