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Afghanistan quake leaves more than 2,200 dead and nearly 4,000 injured, according to new official toll

Four days after the earthquake, villagers in the Kunar Mountains are still waiting for aid to arrive, hampered by landslides and mudslides.

File image of the earthquake in Afghanistan.

File image of the earthquake in Afghanistan.AFP.

Diane Hernández
Published by
Diane Hernández

More than 2,200 people were killed in the magnitude 6 earthquake that struck eastern Afghanistan Sunday night, the Taliban government said Thursday in an updated toll.

It is the deadliest earthquake in recent Afghan history. The country experiences frequent earthquakes because it sits at the junction of the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates.

Hamdullah Fitrat, deputy government spokesman, said on X that most of the 2,205 confirmed dead and nearly 4,000 injured are in Kunar province near the border with Pakistan, and that rescue operations are ongoing.

Four days after the quake, villagers in the Kunar mountains are still waiting for aid, which has been delayed by landslides and mudslides.

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"We need tents, water, food and medicine urgently"

"We urgently need tents, water, food, and medicine," Zahir Jan Safi, a 48-year-old farmer, told AFP from the devastated village of Mazar Dara.

Some 7,000 houses were destroyed in Kunar, Laghman, and Nangarhar provinces. The death toll could rise, as "hundreds of bodies have been found in the destroyed houses," Fitrat warned.

This earthquake comes "at the worst time," according to NGOs and the UN, which have been forced to reduce aid to the country due to cuts in international assistance.

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