KABUL — Casualties from a devastating earthquake in eastern Afghanistan rose to more than 800 dead and nearly 2,800 injured on Monday, Taliban authorities said, as rescuers struggled to reach remote mountain villages in Kunar and neighboring provinces.
The quake hit at 11:47 p.m. local time on August 31, with a preliminary magnitude of 6.0 and a shallow focus about 8–10 km deep near Jalalabad, amplifying the damage across fragile, mud-brick settlements. Aftershocks and landslides blocked roads as residents dug through rubble by hand.
Hospitals in Kunar were quickly overwhelmed, and the impact was especially deadly for women. Local sources reported that six pregnant women died in provincial hospitals due to a severe shortage of female doctors and midwives, while others suffered miscarriages triggered by shock. Taliban restrictions that bar male doctors from treating female patients compounded the crisis, forcing some women to be transferred to Nangarhar, where several died en route.
A doctor in Asadabad hospital told KabulNow that Kunar faces an acute shortage of female medical staff, and though volunteers have come from Nangarhar and other areas, they remain far too few. In Jalalabad, the regional hospital also struggled to treat injured women, and Taliban officials called on private-sector female doctors to step in. Sources said the Taliban even blocked some teams of volunteer female doctors from traveling to Kunar, citing possible interference from the group’s religious police.
While Kunar province bore the brunt of the destruction, casualties were also reported in Nangarhar and Laghman. Helicopters ferried survivors to Jalalabad while volunteers queued to donate blood. Aid groups said many villages are reachable only by foot or air due to rockfall and flood-damaged tracks.
The Taliban said the death toll could rise as search teams reach cut-off valleys.
The United Nations and major relief agencies mobilised assessment and medical teams and pre-positioned supplies, warning that shelter, trauma care, and safe water are immediate needs.
Images from the scene showed neighborhoods reduced to mounds of earth and timber, with families sheltering outdoors amid continuing tremors. Local officials reported entire clusters of hillside homes swept away by landslides triggered by the shallow quake.
The disaster highlights Afghanistan’s extreme vulnerability to natural shocks. Since the Taliban’s return to power in August 2021, their regime has struggled to mount effective disaster responses, largely due to international isolation, sanctions, and a fragile economy.
After previous quakes in Herat in 2023, survivors complained of delays in aid distribution, corruption in relief channels, and the absence of state-led recovery plans, leaving international agencies to shoulder most of the burden.
Aid agencies including Save the Children, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the International Rescue Committee, and Islamic Relief said teams were deploying with medical kits, tents, and food, but warned access and funding shortfalls could slow the response.
Aid groups urged people to avoid damaged buildings and brace for aftershocks as engineers assess schools, clinics, and key bridges. With monsoon rains saturating slopes in the east, geologists cautioned that more slides are possible in the coming days.
International leaders sent condolences, and the UN said its mission in Afghanistan was preparing additional support. Authorities have called on donors for airlift capacity, field hospitals, and heavy equipment to clear debris and reopen routes to isolated districts.
