Tuesday, 02 September 2025
Tuesday, 02 September 2025
The death toll in Afghanistan's earthquake has risen to 1,411, the Afghan Red Crescent Society, a humanitarian group working in the region, said on Tuesday as rescue teams scoured the area for survivors.
At least 3,251 people have been injured and more than 8,000 houses have been destroyed in the disaster, the group said.
The 6.0 magnitude quake struck late Sunday night in a mountainous region, flattening villages and leaving people trapped under rubble for hours.
“The injured are being evacuated, so these figures may change significantly,” Yousaf Hammad, a spokesman for Afghanistan's National Disaster Management Authority, told The Associated Press.
“The earthquake caused landslides in some areas, blocking roads, but they have been reopened, and the remaining roads will be reopened to allow access to areas that were difficult to reach.”
Rescue efforts focus on remote mountain areas
Rescue operations were carried out in four villages in Kunar on Monday after the quake struck and efforts will now be focused on reaching more remote mountain areas, said Ehsanullah Ehsan, the provincial head of disaster management.
"We cannot accurately predict how many bodies might still be trapped under the rubble," said Ehsan. "Our effort is to complete these operations as soon as possible and to begin distributing aid to the affected families."
Mountainous terrain and inclement weather have hindered rescuers reaching remote areas along the Pakistani border where the quake flattened mudbrick homes.
Gaining access for vehicles on the narrow mountain roads was the main obstacle for relief work, said Ehsan, adding machinery was being brought in to clear roads of debris.
On Tuesday, a line of ambulances was on the damaged mountain road trying to reach Kunar villages, as helicopters flew in, bringing aid supplies and taking the injured to hospitals, according to a Reuters witness.
Some of those injured have been transferred to hospitals in Kabul and the adjacent province of Nangarhar, said Ehsan.
Thousands of children were at risk, the United Nations Children's Fund warned on Tuesday.
UNICEF said it was sending medicines, warm clothing, tents and tarpaulins for shelter, and hygiene items such as soap, detergent, towels, sanitary pads, and water buckets.
Taliban soldiers were deployed in the area, providing help and security. The disaster has further stretched the war-torn nation's Taliban administration, already grappling with a sharp drop in foreign aid and deportations of hundreds of thousands of Afghans by neighbouring countries.
Homes collapsed and people screamed for help
Eastern Afghanistan is mountainous, with remote areas and the quake has worsened communications. Blocked roads are forcing aid workers to walk four or five hours to reach survivors. Dozens of flights have operated in and out of Nangarhar Airport, transporting the injured to hospitals.
Buildings in Afghanistan tend to be low-rise constructions, mostly of concrete and brick, with homes in rural and outlying areas made from mud bricks and wood. Many are poorly built.
One survivor described seeing homes collapse before his eyes and people screaming for help.
Sadiqullah, who lives in the Maza Dara area of Nurgal, said he was woken by a deep boom that sounded like a storm approaching. Like many Afghans, he uses only one name.
He ran to where his children were sleeping and rescued three of them. He was about to return to grab the rest of his family when the room fell on top of him.
“I was half-buried and unable to get out,” he told The Associated Press by phone from Nangarhar Hospital. “My wife and two sons are dead, and my father is injured and in hospital with me. We were trapped for three to four hours until people from other areas arrived and pulled me out."
It felt like the whole mountain was shaking, he said.
Aid Cuts
Afghanistan has been badly hit by US President Donald Trump's decision in January to cut funding to its humanitarian arm USAID and reductions in other foreign aid programmes.
Crises elsewhere in the world, along with donor frustration over the Taliban's policies toward women and curbs on aid workers have been a factor in funding cuts, according to diplomats and aid officials.
Humanitarian officials said the shrinking of funding was hampering the response to the quake.
In the wake of the latest disaster, Britain allocated 1 million pounds ($1.35 million) to support the efforts of U.N. and the International Red Cross in delivering critical healthcare and emergency supplies to affected Afghans.
China said it was ready to provide disaster relief assistance "according to Afghanistan's needs and within its capacity", while India delivered 1,000 family tents to Kabul and was moving 15 tonnes of food supplies to Kunar, with more relief materials to be sent on Tuesday.
India has started delivering relief materials for earthquake-affected people in Afghanistan, with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar assuring his Afghan counterpart Amir Khan Muttaqi of more supplies.
He said 15 tonnes of food material is also being immediately moved by the Indian mission from Kabul to Kunar.
"Further relief material will be sent from India starting tomorrow. Wish early recovery of those injured. India stands by Afghanistan at this difficult time," Jaishankar said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said India stands ready to provide all possible humanitarian aid to those affected by the quake.
"Deeply saddened by the loss of lives due to the earthquake in Afghanistan. Our thoughts and prayers are with the bereaved families in this difficult hour, and we wish a speedy recovery to the injured," Modi said on X.
"India stands ready to provide all possible humanitarian aid and relief to those affected," he said.
Afghanistan is prone to deadly earthquakes, particularly in the Hindu Kush mountain range, where the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates meet.
A 6.1-magnitude earthquake that killed 1,000 people in the eastern region in 2022 was the first major natural disaster faced by the Taliban government.
