More than 800 killed after the strong earthquake hit Afghanistan

More than 800 people were killed – and nearly 3,000 injured – after a six -year -old earthquake, East of Afghanistan said on Sunday before midnight, the United Nations humanitarian agency said.

Most deaths are in Kunar province, according to officials, warning that the number of deaths could increase considerably because whole villages have been destroyed by the earthquake.

The epicenter is in a remote mountainous area, which makes it difficult to carry out the rescue operations.

Afghanistan has already been in shock from a severe drought, aid cuts and what the global food program describes as an unprecedented crisis of hunger.

The earthquake struck at 11:47 p.m. (19:47 GMT) on Sunday, about 27 km (17 miles) east of Jalalabad – the fifth largest city in the country, in the east of the province of Nangarhar.

Faridullah Fazli was quickly slept at home in Asadabad, on the banks of the Kunar river, and the tremors woke her up.

“There was a very strong earthquake, accompanied by sounds which were very frightening,” he told the BBC.

“We only slept in the morning. After the earthquake, there were small tremors, and there are still some.”

Fazli said he had gone to the city clinic, helping to transport the dead and wounded in ambulances to take the hospital further south to Nangarhar province.

“It was a very frightening situation, just an atmosphere of fear and terror,” said Fazli.

A resident of Mazar Dara, in the Nurgal region, said that 95% of the village had been destroyed – and that there were five to 10 people injured in each household.

The worst damage was in Kunar – an damaged mountainous region with limited agricultural land.

The roads of the region are often traces of mud that serve around the mountains – the houses are clay, stones and mud.

The region has also seen massive floods and landslides in recent days, blocking access to many areas.

With blocked roads, rescue operations can only be carried out by plane, and the teams could not reach the area until the morning, because helicopters could not land in the mountains at night.

Many people have been trapped under the rubble for hours and have died while waiting for rescuers.

Syed Raheem – One of those who participate in the rescue – says that even if many have been saved, there are fears for others still trapped.

“Some people have sent us messages that there are destroyed houses and that some people are still under the rocks,” he told the BBC.

The main hospital of Jalalabad is already overwhelmed, being just at the center of the crossing point for the tens of thousand Afghans expelled from the border of Pakistan.

Internet connectivity in these fields is very limited, which makes communication and coordination difficult.

Since August 2021, Afghanistan has been under the control of the Taliban, whose government is only recognized by Russia.

Several assistance agencies and non -governmental organizations have suspended their work in Afghanistan with the arrival of the Islamist group lasts in power.

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.

The Taliban government has appealed.

Afghanistan is no stranger to earthquakes because it is on a number of flaw lines.

In 2023, a series of earthquakes in the province of Herat killed more than 1,000 people, a year after a similar number in the province of Paktika.

The last earthquake was so deadly because it was so shallow – it struck at a depth of 8 km (5 miles) – and felt 140 km in the capital, Kabul, as well as in neighboring Pakistan. To be classified as shallow, an earthquake must occur within 70 km below the surface.

Shallow earthquakes are common in Afghanistan, especially in the foothills of Himalayas where tectonic plates slip against each other.