A devastating natural disaster has struck Afghanistan at its most vulnerable moment, as a 6-magnitude earthquake killed at least 500 people and injured more than 1,000 others just hours before thousands of Afghan nationals faced a Pakistani government deadline to leave or face arrest and deportation.
Thank you for reading this post; don't forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel here!
The timing of Sunday’s earthquake near the Pakistan border has created a humanitarian catastrophe within an already dire crisis, as rescue operations unfold. At the same time, mass population movements continue across the affected region.
The earthquake’s epicentre struck near Jalalabad late Sunday, a city of approximately 200,000 people, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The shallow quake, occurring just five miles below the earth’s surface, maximised its destructive potential across eastern Afghanistan.
At least four eastern provinces—Nangarhar, Nuristan, Laghman, and Kunar—suffered significant damage from the tremors. Sharafat Amar, spokesman for Afghanistan’s Ministry of Health, reported on X that several villages had been destroyed.
The national broadcaster confirmed the casualty figures on Monday, though officials warned that the death toll was likely to rise significantly as rescue workers struggled to reach remote mountainous communities.
Deputy Head of the United Nations‘ Office of Humanitarian Affairs in Afghanistan, Kare Carey, described the severe challenges facing rescue operations. Road access proved difficult in the area’s steep terrain, where landslides had struck following the initial earthquake.
Videos shared on social media showed people scrambling in darkness to reach neighbours trapped under debris from collapsed houses immediately after the shaking stopped.
The earthquake’s impact extended beyond Afghanistan’s borders, with tremors felt across several districts of Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, as well as parts of Punjab Province, Pakistan-administered Kashmir, and the capital Islamabad, according to the Pakistan Meteorological Department. Pakistani officials reported no major damage or casualties so far.
Afghanistan sits in a seismically active region where earthquakes pose a prevalent danger. Many of the country’s most densely populated towns and cities are located on or near geological faultlines, making them particularly vulnerable to such disasters.
In 2022, a 5.9-magnitude earthquake struck a remote area of Afghanistan’s southeast, killing at least 1,300 people according to United Nations figures. The Taliban, who have ruled Afghanistan since 2021, claimed at the time that more than 4,000 people had died in that disaster.
The earthquake is one of the latest in a series of overlapping crises facing Afghanistan. The country’s healthcare system has been severely compromised, with hundreds of hospitals and healthcarecentres forced to shut down since the Trump administration suspended U.S. foreign aid earlier this year.
The timing proved particularly devastating, as the earthquake struck while many Afghans living in Pakistan were travelling to Afghanistan ahead of Monday’s Pakistani government deadline requiring all Afghan nationals to leave or face arrest and deportation.
More than two million Afghan nationals have already returned to the country, some by force, after being expelled from Pakistan or Iran amid rising xenophobia and political pressure in those countries. Additional deportees had been scheduled to arrive in the coming days.
In Kabul, Afghanistan’s capital located less than 100 miles from the epicentre, residents fled their homes as aftershocks continued throughout the night, creating additional displacement in a country already struggling with massive population movements.
According to the spokesman for the Ministry of Public Health, Sharafat Zaman, who spoke to AP, rescue operations are still underway.
“Several villages have been completely destroyed. The figures for martyrs and injured are changing. Medical teams from Kunar, Nangarhar, and the capital, Kabul, have arrived in the area,” he said.
The ministry further said that the death toll and injuries are expected to increase even as rescue operations are underway.
Follow the AkweyaTV channel on WhatsApp: http://bit.ly/3I7mQVx
Or scan the QR code:
