Afghanistan earthquake kills over 1,400 as Taliban plead for global aid

The Taliban have called for international aid as Afghanistan reels from an earthquake that killed more than 1,400 people and left thousands more injured.

Rescuers searched into the night for survivors after the 6.0-magnitude quake struck on Sunday destroying entire villages across the country’s eastern Kunar province, which borders Pakistan. 

Many remained trapped under the debris of mud and stone homes built into steep valleys, but rescuers struggled to reach remote areas because of rough mountainous terrain and inclement weather. It was a shallow earthquake, taking place just six miles beneath the Earth’s surface, which is known to have a particularly destructive impact.

On Tuesday, a second earthquake, of magnitude 5.5, also at a shallow depth of six miles, shook south-eastern Afghanistan, prompting fears of further damage and destruction.

Before the second quake the death toll had passed 1,411 with more than 3,000 people injured, Zabihullah Mujahid, a Taliban government spokesperson, said on Tuesday.

Authorities said they expected casualties to rise further once rescue teams reached more isolated locations, many of which were still inaccessible more than 24 hours after the first earthquake struck.

Aseel, a humanitarian tech platform with networks around Afghanistan that has sent teams to the affected areas, said more people had been injured in the second quake, which was expected to push the death toll higher.

Sharafat Zaman, a spokesperson for the health ministry in Kabul, called for international aid to tackle the devastation. “We need it because here lots of people lost their lives and houses,” he said.

Afghanistan had already been suffering from a severe economic crisis and a crippling withdrawal of international aid after the takeover of the country by the Taliban in 2021. Hardline Taliban policies, such as a ban on female education and employment, have resulted in a sharp drop in international aid funding and humanitarian assistance to the country.

The disaster will further stretch the resources of the war-torn nation’s Taliban administration, which is also grappling with the return of hundreds of thousands of Afghans deported by Iran and Pakistan in recent weeks.

The Sunday quake razed three villages in Kunar and caused substantial damage in many others, authorities said. At least 610 people were killed in Kunar and there were 12 dead in Nangarhar, they added.

Ghazi Abad village, in the Nurgal district of Kunar, was a scene of devastation, the entire village destroyed. Homes had been reduced to rubble and many residents remained trapped under the debris.

Some villagers sat weeping amid the piled ruins of their homes. Others began laboriously clearing the debris by hand, or carried out the injured on makeshift stretchers.

“There is not a single standing room visible in this village,” said one resident, Abdullah. “The aftermath of the disaster suggests that life here was ended in mere seconds.”

Abdullah said adjoining villages had also suffered similar fates, completely leveled as the earthquake reduced every home to ruins. “The full extent of the earthquake’s impact will become clearer in the coming days as recovery efforts continue and many are still trapped,” he said.

“The losses are huge, people have no food and safe drinking water. While rescue operations are lacking, people are banding together to search for survivors and recover bodies all day and night. In one household there is no one left, everyone died here, and their cattle are left alone.”

Another survivor said: “We need ambulances, we need doctors, we need everything to rescue the injured and recover the dead.”

In Kunar, the dead, some of them children, were wrapped in white shrouds by villagers who prayed over their bodies before burying them, while helicopters ferried the wounded to hospitals.

Rescuers were battling to reach remote mountainous areas cut off from mobile networks along the Pakistani border, but their efforts were impeded by heavy rain, which heightened the risk of landslides and left many roads impassable. Military rescue teams fanned out across the region, the defense ministry said, with 40 flights carrying away 420 wounded and dead.

Experts urged the international community to step in and provide support, emphasizing that the country’s rescue and relief organizations were barely functional.

“The funds of the Afghan government that have been frozen by the US and other countries should be disbursed to international organizations that are carrying out relief work in Afghanistan,” said Osama Malik, an expert in international law. “The Pakistani government should also halt Afghan deportations at such a critical time when Afghanistan will be unable to manage an influx.”

On Monday, Britain set out emergency funding support for those affected by the recent earthquakes, saying it would ensure that the aid did not go to the Taliban administration by channelling it through its partners.

The US state department posted its condolences on X on Monday for the loss of life, but did not immediately respond when asked if the US would provide any assistance.