What we know and what we do not do

An earthquake of amplitude of 6.0 struck the mountainous region of Afghanistan, the authorities saying that hundreds of people have been killed.

The earthquake struck the local time at 11:47 pm on Sunday (19:17 GMT) and its epicenter was 27 km (17 miles) from Jalalabad, the fifth largest city in the country, in the east of the province of Nangarhar.

It was shallow – only 8 km deep – and was felt 140 km in the capital, Kabul, as well as in neighboring Pakistan. We think hundreds of people are dead.

The initial earthquake has been followed by a number of large replicas, which would have caused new deaths.

Details are still emerging and it could be some time before the extent of damage and the number of deaths is known.

The initial reports indicate significant losses and generalized damage in certain parts of the provinces of Nangarhar and Kunar.

These mountainous areas are extremely difficult to reach even in the best of cases, which hinders rescue and rescue operations.

More than 600 people are afraid that the Taliban Interior Ministry said, but warns that there is still no clear balance sheet.

The BBC was informed that the road leading to the epicenter was blocked due to a landslide, so the Taliban government uses helicopters to get people out.

Multiple sources of the government have declared that dozens of houses are buried under the rubble. The help of international organizations has been requested.

Road access to the most affected areas is still blocked, but hundreds of houses have probably been destroyed, according to Salam Al Janabi of the UNICEF United Nations C charitable.

The earthquake came in the wake of sudden floods during the weekend which left at least five dead, according to local media. The flood, which caused damaged landslides and infrastructure, has also temporarily disrupted traffic between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

As we have pointed out, the nature of the terrain means that it is difficult to access and that there are limited communications – which means that it will take more time to obtain updates on the situation. It is also likely to be damage to infrastructure, which makes it even more difficult to reach the affected areas.

During the previous major earthquakes, the number of deaths increased sharply once access to the affected areas has been established.

However, there are other factors that hinder both our ability to obtain precise information on the situation and to obtain aid in the affected areas.

Since August 2021, the country has been under the control of the Taliban, most of which do not recognize the government.

The return of the Islamist group of the hard line in power sparked an exodus of international journalists, organizations like the BBC drawing many of their employees in the country.

Several assistance agencies and NGOs have also suspended their work in Afghanistan – which means that there are fewer means to verify what is going on.

However, there is no restriction on the authorization of international aid.

Afghanistan has been pushed into economic collapse when the Taliban took over and more than 23 million Afghans now need humanitarian assistance, the international rescue committee.

Most of the foreign donations to Afghanistan have been suspended and international sanctions, which go back to the time when the Taliban were the first in power in the 1990s, are still in place – although exemptions have been made for humanitarian relief.

Before taking control of the Taliban, around 80% of Afghanistan’s budget came from foreign donors. This has funded almost all public health care, which has since collapsed.

The main hospital of Jalalabad – The largest medical establishment close to the epicenter – is already exceeded, being just at the center of the crossing point for tens of thousands of Afghans deported by Pakistan in Neigbourring.

Afghanistan financial assets abroad (mainly held in the United States) have also been frozen, while the brutal frost by the American Agency for International Development (USAID) earlier this year has considerably affected aid delivery.

Afghanistan is very subject to earthquakes because it is located above a certain number of flaws lines where the Indian and Eurasian plates meet.

Earthquakes occur when there is a sudden movement along the tectonic plates that make up the surface of the earth. Fractures called fault lines occur when the plates collide.

In 2023, a series of earthquakes in the province of Herat killed more than 1,000 people. In 2022, the province of Paktika was struck by an earthquake which also killed more than 1,000.

Shallow earthquakes are common in the country and are more destructive, because seismic waves have less distance to travel on the surface of the earth and therefore keep a large part of their power.

Buildings in Afghanistan also tend to be made of wood, mud brick or weak concrete, which are not resistant to the earthquake.

Many damage also comes from landslides caused by earthquakes, which can flatten the houses in mountain villages and block rivers, causing floods.