Kabul, Afghanistan — A robust earthquake in far japanese Afghanistan killed greater than 800 folks and left not less than 2,500 wounded because it destroyed quite a few villages, a spokesman for the nation’s Taliban authorities mentioned Monday. Spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid advised journalists in Kabul that the overwhelming majority of the casualties have been in Kunar province, however that 12 folks have been killed and 255 injured in neighboring Nangarhar.
The quake struck a number of cities in Kunar province late on Sunday night, close to the town of Jalalabad in neighboring Nangahar province. The 6.0 magnitude quake struck at 11:47 p.m. native time (3:17 p.m. Jap) and was centered 17 miles east-northeast of Jalalabad, the U.S. Geological Survey mentioned. It was simply 5 miles deep. Shallower earthquakes are inclined to trigger extra harm.
A number of aftershocks rattled the area all through the evening, together with a strong, shallow 5.2-magnitude temblor simply after 4 a.m., French information company AFP mentioned.
The quake shook buildings from Kabul to Islamabad, the Pakistani capital some 230 miles away, for a number of seconds, AFP journalists mentioned.
Taliban troopers together with civilians carry earthquake victims to an ambulance at an airport in Jalalabad, Afghanistan on Sept. 1, 2025.
Stringer / REUTERS
Video from Nangarhar confirmed folks frantically digging by means of rubble with their fingers, looking for family members at midnight, and injured folks being taken out of collapsed buildings on stretchers and into helicopters. Villagers in Kunar gave interviews outdoors their wrecked properties.
Muhammad Jalal, 40, a resident of Ghaziabad village in northern Kunar, advised CBS Information’ Sami Yousafzai in a cellphone interview that he was jolted awake by the tremors and managed to flee moments earlier than his room collapsed.
“I used to be fortunate, however not less than two members of my household died and 4 have been injured,” he mentioned. “We spent the entire evening searching for assist, however we have been helpless and hopeless.” Jalal recalled listening to his uncle crying for assist from beneath the rubble for 2 hours earlier than his voice fell silent.
Video shared on social media confirmed a white-bearded man in an undershirt rising from the ruins, consoling grieving ladies who had misplaced relations. “This was the need of God. What can we do?” he advised them.
Dr. Sharafat Zaman, a spokesman for the Taliban authorities’s Well being Ministry, mentioned the toll was more likely to rise as search and rescue work continued, noting that “a number of villages have been fully destroyed.”
Rescue operations have been nonetheless underway Monday and medical groups from Kunar, Nangarhar and the capital Kabul have arrived within the space, mentioned Zaman.
The U.N. mentioned on X that it had rescue groups on the bottom “delivering emergency help & lifesaving assist.” The Afghan Purple Crescent posted on X that officers from the company and “medical groups rushed to the affected areas and are at the moment offering emergency help to impacted households.”
Jalalabad is a bustling commerce metropolis on account of its proximity with neighboring Pakistan and a key border crossing between the nations. Though it has a inhabitants of about 300,000 in accordance with the municipality, it is metropolitan space is regarded as far bigger. Most of its buildings are low-rise constructions, largely of concrete and brick, and its outlying areas embrace properties constructed of mud bricks and wooden. Many are of poorly constructed.
Jalalabad additionally has appreciable agriculture and farming, together with citrus fruit and rice, with the Kabul River flowing by means of the town.
A map from the U.S. Geological Survey exhibits the placement of a magnitude 6.0 earthquake in Afghanistan on Sunday, Aug. 31, 2025.
USGS
Afghanistan is positioned close to the junction of the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates and it’s usually struck with earthquakes.
A magnitude 6.3 temblor rocked Afghanistan on Oct. 7, 2023, together with sturdy aftershocks. The Taliban authorities estimated that not less than 4,000 perished. The U.N. gave a far decrease determine of about 1,500. It was the deadliest pure catastrophe to strike Afghanistan in latest reminiscence. Greater than 90% of these killed have been ladies and youngsters, UNICEF mentioned.
In June 2022, a 5.9 magnitude earthquake struck components of japanese Afghanistan, killing greater than 1,000 folks and injuring greater than 1,500 others.