Powerful Earthquake Strikes Afghanistan, Resulting in Significant Loss of Life and Injuries

More than 800 people were killed and over 2800 injured in one of Afghanistan’s worst earthquakes, authorities said on Monday, as helicopters ferried the wounded to hospital after they were plucked from rubble being combed for survivors.

The quake of magnitude 6 killed at least 800 people in the eastern provinces of Kunar and Nangarhar, with more than 2800 injured and numerous houses destroyed.

“All our … teams have been mobilised to accelerate assistance, so that comprehensive and full support can be provided,” interior ministry spokesperson Abdul Maten Qanee told Reuters, citing efforts in areas from security to food and health.

The earthquake was Afghanistan’s deadliest since June 2022, when tremors of magnitude 6.1 killed at least 1,000 people.

Afghanistan is prone to deadly earthquakes, particularly in the Hindu Kush mountain range, where the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates meet.

A series of earthquakes in its west killed more than 1,000 people last year, underscoring the vulnerability of one of the world’s poorest countries to natural disasters.