Shallow Quake Proves Deadly in Afghanistan

A powerful 6.0-magnitude earthquake struck eastern Afghanistan late Sunday, leaving more than 800 dead and 2,500 injured, according to Afghan officials. The quake was especially destructive due to its shallow depth of five miles, reports the New York Times. The epicenter was near Jalalabad, but the hardest-hit area was Kunar province, where dozens of villages—many built from mud and brick—were devastated. The BBC reports that "entire villages have been flattened, they're now just rubble." With rescue teams scrambling to access remote valleys and landslides hampering roads, authorities warned that the casualty count could climb.

The Taliban, who have governed Afghanistan since 2021, reported the bulk of casualties in Kunar, with additional deaths in neighboring Nangarhar province. The disaster struck as thousands of Afghan returnees were crossing the border from Pakistan, ahead of a government deadline for undocumented Afghans to leave or face deportation. "Children are under the rubble. The elderly are under the rubble. Young people are under the rubble," a villager from Nurgal district, one of the worst-affected areas in Kunar, told the AP. "We need help here. We need people to come here and join us. Let us pull out the people who are buried. There is no one who can come and remove dead bodies from under the rubble."

Hospitals in the region remained mostly operational, but some health centers reported minor damage. In at least one isolated village, helicopters were the only way to evacuate victims. The area is prone to quakes; a 5.9-magnitude temblor in the country's southeast killed 1,300 people in 2022; thousands more died in a series of quakes in 2023.

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The earthquake compounded an already dire situation: Afghanistan's humanitarian crisis is among the world's worst, with aid funding at historic lows since the Taliban takeover. Over half the country's population now needs assistance, but international support has dried up, with the US and several European donors slashing aid. On Monday, Iran, India, Japan, and the European Union pledged help, and the UN said it was mobilizing resources for survivors.