Afghanistan has been plunged into mourning after a powerful earthquake ripped through its eastern provinces late Sunday night, leaving widespread destruction and a death toll climbing beyond 800.
The tremor struck just before midnight, shaking buildings as far as Kabul and Islamabad, and jolting more than a million people awake across the region. The U.S. Geological Survey reported the quake’s shallow depth — only eight kilometers beneath the surface — made it particularly destructive.
Kunar and Nangarhar Hit Hardest
The devastation was most acute in Kunar province, where Taliban officials confirmed at least 800 fatalities and thousands more injured. Neighboring Nangarhar added to the grim toll with more than a dozen deaths and over 250 wounded.
Mud-brick homes — common across rural Afghanistan — crumbled instantly under the force, burying families as they slept. Many villages remain cut off by blocked mountain roads, hampering relief efforts.
Strained Rescue Operations
The Taliban government and United Nations have launched an emergency response. Dozens of flights have been dispatched to carry supplies and medical aid into inaccessible areas, while locals themselves have been clearing roads by hand in desperate attempts to reach survivors.
“There is a lot of fear and tension… children and women were screaming. We had never experienced anything like this,” said Ijaz Ulhaq Yaad, a district official in Nurgal, describing scenes of chaos as villagers fled collapsing homes.
Many of those now displaced are recent returnees — Afghans forced out of Iran and Pakistan in recent years — who had only just rebuilt their lives on fragile foundations.
Aftershocks and Compounded Crises
At least five aftershocks rattled the region overnight, one measuring magnitude 5.2. The back-to-back tremors compounded fear for survivors huddled outdoors in the freezing night air.
The disaster struck an already battered nation. Years of conflict, dwindling foreign aid, and a collapsing economy have left Afghanistan with little resilience against natural catastrophes. Only days earlier, Nangarhar province had suffered deadly floods that washed away crops and homes.
A Nation Too Familiar with Quakes
Afghanistan lies along a major fault line between the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates, making it prone to frequent earthquakes. Just last year, Herat province endured a magnitude 6.3 quake that killed more than 1,500 people, and in 2022, Paktika province saw nearly as many lives lost in a similar tragedy.
Global Condolences, Local Uncertainty
UN Secretary-General António Guterres expressed solidarity with the Afghan people, joining other international voices offering condolences. Yet beyond words, questions linger about how much meaningful aid can reach the country given its isolation under Taliban rule.
For the thousands of families now mourning their dead or trapped under rubble, the focus remains survival. Afghanistan, once again, finds itself forced to pick through ruins — of homes, of communities, and of lives lost too soon.
