KABUL — Rescue crews in eastern Afghanistan fought through landslides and blocked mountain roads on Thursday to reach collapsed villages in Kunar and neighboring provinces, as Taliban authorities said the death toll from Sunday night’s earthquake has climbed past 2,200, with thousands more injured.
The 6.0-magnitude quake struck at 11:47 p.m. local time on Aug. 31 with a shallow focus near Jalalabad, amplifying damage across mud-brick settlements in steep valleys. The U.S. Geological Survey located the epicenter near the Kunar–Nangarhar border and warned of strong aftershocks that have continued to rattle the region and hinder relief operations.
Taliban now put the death toll at more than 2,200, with the majority of casualties in Kunar, and say nearly 4,000 people are injured, according to AP. and AFP carried the updated figures from government spokesmen on Thursday (AP:
In Kunar’s worst-hit districts, entire clusters of hillside homes have collapsed. With heavy machinery scarce and roads cut by rockfall, residents continued to dig by hand for missing relatives while emergency teams ferried the wounded over rough tracks to field clinics.
Images published by international outlets showed families sheltering in the open amid persistent aftershocks and dust clouds from new slides.
Aid agencies warned that needs are outpacing capacity. The U.N. and humanitarian partners say tens of thousands have been affected across Kunar, Nangarhar, Laghman and Nuristan, with urgent requirements for trauma care, shelter, clean water and sanitation.
UNICEF said “thousands of children are at risk” and highlighted the destruction of homes and schools as teams deploy medical and psychosocial support.
Medical responders also flagged acute gaps in health services, including shortages of female clinicians in conservative areas, which complicate treatment for women and girls. Local health workers reported women among the severely injured and noted the pressure on provincial hospitals as patients are transferred from cut-off valleys.
Seismologists say the eastern Hindu Kush, where the Indian and Eurasian plates collide, is one of the world’s most quake-prone regions.
Afghanistan has suffered multiple deadly earthquakes in recent years, including the June 2022 Paktika quake that killed around 1,000 people and the October 2023 Herat sequence that left more than 1,000 dead by U.N. estimates.
With nights turning colder in the mountains and thousands displaced, aid agencies urged immediate international support to sustain airlifts, expand trauma care and prevent disease outbreaks from contaminated water.
