Rescuers race to find survivors as Afghanistan earthquake death toll rises to 1,400

Deadly 6.0-magnitude quake hit remote mountainous areas, followed by aftershocks

The Joint Operations Command has intensified its relief efforts in Afghanistan. Today, three aircraft took off carrying more than 105 tonnes of food supplies to support and assist those affected by the earthquake that struck the eastern regions of Afghanistan. Photo: WAM

Earthquake-affected people receive relief aid distributed by the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) in the Dewa Gul Valley of Sawkay district in Kunar province. AFP

Workers load supplies onto a truck for earthquake victims in Nurgal district, Kunar province. Reuters

A doctor tends to an injured Afghan woman outside her damaged house in Kunar province. Reuters

Paramedics reach areas affected by an earthquake in Kunar. EPA

People sit outside their damaged houses. Reuters

Afghan volunteers collect donations for victims in Jalalabad. AP

A woman and her children wait for assistance in the village of Wadir. AP

Rescue officials prepare to airlift injured people to hospital. EPA

Residents from surrounding towns and villages try to reach the quake-hit region to assist survivors. AP

The body of a girl is placed on a bed frame after being pulled from the rubble. AP

Afghan boys sit on the rubble of a house after a deadly magnitude-6 earthquake struck Afghanistan on Sunday, at Lulam village, in Nurgal district, Kunar province. Reuters

Villagers wait for assistance in the village of Wadir. AP

A boy injured during Sunday's earthquake lies in a hospital bed in Jalalabad. AP

Rescue volunteers and Taliban security officers move the injured by military helicopter following a 6.0 magnitude earthquake in the Mazar Dara village of Nurgal, north-east of Jalalabad. AFP

EDITORS NOTE: Graphic content / Damaged houses are pictured from a helicopter after earthquakes at Mazar Dara village in Nurgal district, Kunar province, in Eastern Afghanistan, on September 1, 2025. More than 800 people have died and over 2,700 were injured from August 31 night to September 1, 2025, in eastern Afghanistan after a 6-magnitude earthquake, followed by at least five aftershocks felt hundreds of kilometers away. (Photo by Wakil Kohsar / AFP)

An Afghan carries the body of a relative in a shroud from a ruined house following earthquakes in the Mazar Dara village of Nurgal, eastern Afghanistan. AFP

Bearers take the deceased to a funeral ceremony after earthquakes at Mazar Dara village in Nurgal district, eastern Afghanistan. AFP

An injured boy receives hospital treatment after a 6.0-magnitude earthquake near Jalalabad, Afghanistan. AFP

Afghans donate blood in Nangarhar. Hundreds are known to have died in the earthquake, with the death toll expected to rise. AP

Volunteers transport an injured man to hospital. AFP

Taliban soldiers and civilians carry earthquake survivors to an ambulance at an airport in Jalalabad. Reuters

Rescuers were searching for survivors on Tuesday in the rubble of homes flattened by an earthquake that struck eastern Afghanistan, as the death toll reached 1,400.

The 6.0-magnitude quake, followed by at least five aftershocks, hit remote areas in mountainous provinces near the border with Pakistan on Sunday night.

Zabihullah Mujahid, a spokesman for Afghanistan's Taliban government, posted to X on Tuesday that 1,411 people had been killed and more than 3,000 injured.

He said more than 5,400 homes had been destroyed in the quake-hit areas of Nurgal, Soki, Jaba Darah, Bish Darah, Tabor and Asadabad, which lie in the province of Kunar.

Rescue “operations continued throughout the night” into Tuesday, said Ehsanullah Ehsan, the head of the Kunar Provincial Disaster Management Authority.

There were “still injured people left in the distant villages” in need of hospital treatment, he added.

Villagers have joined the rescue operation, using their bare hands to clear debris from collapsed homes that were built into steep valleys. The dead, some of them children, were wrapped in white shrouds by villagers who prayed over their bodies before burying them.

Some of the hardest-hit villages were made inaccessible by blocked roads, the UN migration agency said.

UAE sends search-and-rescue teams to Afghanistan after earthquake kills more than 800 people

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The earthquake epicentre was about 27 kilometres north-east of the city of Jalalabad, according to the US Geological Survey, which said it struck a shallow eight kilometres below the Earth's surface. Shallow quakes can inflict greater damage.

After decades of conflict, Afghanistan is one of the poorest countries in the world, facing a protracted humanitarian crisis and the influx of millions of Afghans forced back to the country by neighbours Pakistan and Iran in recent years.

Since the Taliban seized power in 2021, foreign aid to the country has been slashed, undermining the nation's ability to respond to disasters. The US was the largest aid donor until early this year, when all but a sliver of funds was cancelled after President Donald Trump took office.

Damaged houses in Mazar Dara village, typical low-rise, mud-brick homes that are vulnerable to collapse. AFP

In June, the UN said it was scaling back its global humanitarian aid plans because of the “deepest funding cuts ever”. On Monday, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said it was working with authorities to “swiftly assess needs, provide emergency assistance and stand ready to mobilise additional support”, announcing an initial $5 million.

The UAE on Monday sent search-and-rescue teams to support recovery and relief efforts. President Sheikh Mohamed directed personnel from the Abu Dhabi Civil Defence, the National Guard and the Joint Operations Command to mobilise.

The country also sent supplies including food, medicine and tents, state news agency Wam reported.

The majority of Afghans live in low-rise, mud-brick homes vulnerable to collapse. “There is a lot of fear and tension … children and women were screaming. We had never experienced anything like this in our lives,” Ijaz Ulhaq Yaad, a member of the agricultural department in Nurgal, told news agency AFP on Monday.

In a social media post shared by the Vatican, Pope Leo XIV said he was “deeply saddened by the significant loss of life” caused by the quake.

Afghanistan is frequently hit by earthquakes, especially in the Hindu Kush mountain range, near the boundaries of the Eurasia and India tectonic plates.

In October 2023, western Herat province was devastated by a 6.3-magnitude earthquake, which killed more than 1,500 people and damaged or destroyed more than 63,000 homes. A 5.9-magnitude quake struck the eastern province of Paktika in June 2022, killing more than 1,000 people and leaving tens of thousands homeless.