Kabul, 1 Sep

Desperate Afghans clawed through rubble in the dead of the night in search of missing loved ones after a strong earthquake killed some 800 people and injured more than 2,500 in eastern Afghanistan, according to figures provided Monday by the Taliban government.

The 6.0 magnitude quake late Sunday hit towns in the province of Kunar, near the city of Jalalabad in the neighbouring Nangahar province, causing extensive damage.

The quake at 11.47 pm was centred 27 kilometres east-northeast of the city of Jalalabad in Nangarhar province, the US Geological Survey said. It was just 8 kilometres deep. Shallower quakes tend to cause more damage. Several aftershocks followed.

Footage showed rescuers taking injured people on stretchers from collapsed buildings and into helicopters as people frantically dug through rubble with their hands.

A Taliban government spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, said at a press conference Monday that the death toll had risen to 800 with 2,500 injured. He said that most of the casualties were in Kunar province.

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 of poor construction.

One resident in Nurgal district, one of the worst-affected areas in Kunar, said nearly the entire village was destroyed. “Children are under the rubble. The elderly are under the rubble. Young people are under the rubble,” said the villager, who did not give his name.

“We need help here,” he pleaded. "We need people to come here and join us. Let us pull out the people who are buried. There is no one who can come and remove dead bodies from under the rubble.”

Homes collapsed and people screamed for help

Eastern Afghanistan is mountainous, with remote areas. The quake has worsened communications.

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 big 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.

Rescue operations were underway and medical teams from Kunar, Nangarhar and the capital Kabul have arrived in the area, said Sharafat Zaman, a health ministry spokesman.

Zaman said many areas had not been able to report casualty figures and that “the numbers were expected to change” as deaths and injuries are reported. The Taliban government's chief spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, said “all available resources will be utilized to save lives.”

Nearby Jalalabad is a bustling trade city due to its proximity with neighboring Pakistan and a key border crossing between the countries. Although it has a population of about 300,000 according to the municipality, its metropolitan area is thought to be far larger.

Jalalabad also has considerable agriculture and farming, including citrus fruit and rice, with the Kabul River flowing through the city.

A magnitude 6.3 earthquake struck Afghanistan on October, 2023, followed by strong aftershocks. The Taliban government estimated at least 4,000 people perished in that quake.

The UN gave a far lower death toll of about 1,500. It was the deadliest natural disaster to strike Afghanistan in recent memory.