LONDON — A 6.0 magnitude earthquake struck japanese Afghanistan, destroying a number of villages, killing at the least 812 folks and injuring scores extra, in keeping with native officers.
The highly effective earthquake struck simply earlier than midnight on Sunday close to the border with Pakistan, with its epicenter about 17 miles east of Jalalabad, in keeping with preliminary information from the U.S. Geological Survey.
Nearly the entire deaths have been in Kunar Province, the place 800 folks have been killed and one other 2,500 folks have been injured, officers stated in an announcement shared by Zabihullah Mujahid, a authorities spokesperson.
One other dozen folks have been killed in Nangarhar Province, stated Mufti Abdul Matin Qani, spokesperson for the Ministry of Inside. A minimum of 255 have been injured in that province, officers stated.
Afghan injured kids obtain remedy at a hospital after an earthquake in Afghanistan’s Jalalabad on September 1, 2025.
Aimal Zahir/AFP by way of Getty Pictures
In a telephone interview with ABC Information, Shah Mehmood, a Taliban authorities official in Nangahar Province stated extra individuals are feared trapped beneath rubble in distant villages.
Lethal earthquakes have struck Afghanistan a number of instances lately, together with a a 5.9 magnitude one in June 2022 and a 6.3 magnitude one in October 2023. The demise toll for every of these quakes rose to over 1,000 folks, native officers stated of their aftermaths.
The United Nations mission in Afghanistan stated in an announcement on Monday that its native staffers have been “deeply saddened” by the devastating quake, which “claimed tons of of lives, injuring many extra.”
Individuals carry an earthquake sufferer on a stretcher to an ambulance at an airport in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, Sept. 1, 2025.
Stringer/Reuters
The Afghan well being minister stated that a number of villages within the Nurgal district of Kunar — together with Sholt, Arit, Mamagal, Wadir and others — had been all however destroyed. Others suffered important harm, the minister stated.
A number of the injured had been evacuated and rescue efforts have been ongoing, the ministry stated.
“Sadly, tonight’s earthquake has prompted lack of life and property harm in a few of our japanese provinces,” Mujahid stated in a post on social media.
Mujahid stated help groups from close by provinces had been dispatched to the world.
The Ministry of Protection said a 10-member crew flew some 40 flights out of the world, carrying 420 folks to hospitals, together with the Daoud Khan Navy Hospital. The Nationwide Catastrophe Administration Authority said a convoy carrying response groups was en path to the affected areas in Kunar.
The U.N. Workplace for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Afghanistan started coordinating with different worldwide companies after the quake, saying its “companions are on the bottom initiating rapid aid efforts.”
On this photograph launched by the Nangarhar Media Middle, stretchers and ambulances are ready to obtain victims of an earthquake that killed tons of and destroyed quite a few villages in japanese Afghanistan, at Nangarhar Airport in Nangarhar, Afghanistan, Monday, Sept. 1, 2025.
AP
The U.N. would “spare no effort to help these in want within the affected areas,” Secretary-Basic Antonio Guterres stated.
“I stand in full solidarity with the folks of Afghanistan after the devastating earthquake that hit the nation earlier immediately,” he said on social media. “I lengthen my deepest condolences to the households of the victims and need a speedy restoration to these injured.”
Rescue efforts by native officers have been ongoing, with 200 Taliban troopers deployed to help in retrieving survivors, Mehmood stated. Two helicopters and 30 ambulances have been additionally getting used within the rescue operations.
The Taliban official added that among the many worst-hit areas are Nurgal and Siringal in Kunar Province, in addition to a number of villages in Shaman District, which have been fully destroyed. Darr-e-Nur in Nangarhar Province has additionally sustained important harm.
Mehmood famous that reaching out to a few of the affected areas stays troublesome attributable to communication blackouts and poor cell service protection.
ABC Information’ Will Gretsky and Jessica Gorman contributed to this report.
