Afghanistan-Pakistan earthquake latest: At least 622 dead after 6.0-magnitude quake turns homes to rubble

The death toll has climbed to 622, the Taliban-run interior ministry has confirmed.

Over a thousand people are injured.

At least 250 people have died due to the magnitude-6 earthquake that struck eastern Afghanistan overnight, officials have confirmed.

The Kunar Disaster Management Authority said in a statement that at least 250 people were killed and 500 others injured in the districts of Nur Gul, Soki, Watpur, Manogi and Chapadare.

The injured were being airlifted to hospitals as the quake struck a mountainous region difficult to access by roads amid the monsoon rains. There were fears the toll could climb further as more remote villages report damages, in an area where the majority of houses are made of stone and mud.

The Taliban government in Afghanistan has called for aid from international organisations as hundreds are feared dead and several villages impacted after a magnitude 6 earthquake struck near its eastern borders.

Rescuers were working in several districts of the mountainous province where most of the homes are made of mud and stones.

Officials said the death toll could climb higher as more and more injured are rushed to the hospital and remote areas report casualties.

Aid agencies like Red Cross were distributing relief materials this morning.

This earthquake is a compounded tragedy for Afghanistan, which is already wrestling with one of the world’s most severe humanitarian crises, the organisation said.

“The short term needs are water, shelter, food,” Alexander Matheou, IFRC regional director for Asia Pacific said.

• A powerful magnitude-6.0 earthquake struck eastern Afghanistan around midnight, with the epicentre near Jalalabad in Nangarhar province, 117-119 kilometres from Kabul
• Initial official reports confirm at least 30 fatalities, and hundreds are injured due to collapsed roofs and falling debris
• The impact of the quake was felt in major Afghan cities, across the border in Pakistan and as far as northern India, including Delhi
• Rescue operations are underway as local authorities warn that casualty figures could rise as remote villages report in
• Eastern Afghanistan’s mountainous terrain and poor infrastructure complicate search and aid efforts
• Several aftershocks have been recorded, ranging up to magnitude-4.5
• Hospitals in Jalalabad and Kunar are receiving the wounded as the Taliban government issues urgent appeals for medical supplies and aid
• The quake occurred at a shallow depth of about 8–14 km, magnifying its impact in the densely populated region
• Afghanistan sits on active fault lines, which makes it prone to devastating quakes. Over a thousand people died in an earthquake in 2023

Death toll is feared to climb higher as early reports of damage emerge from Afghanistan.

Health ministry earlier said there were 30 dead in a single village, but added that accurate casualty figures had yet to be gathered in an area of scattered hamlets with a long history of earthquakes and flooding.

“The number of casualties and injuries is high, but since the area is difficult to access, our teams are still on site,” health ministry spokesperson Sharafat Zaman said in a statement.

Hundreds of injured were taken to hospital, said Najibullah Hanif, the provincial information head, with figures likely to rise as reports arrived from remote areas with few roads.

The earthquake struck near Jalalabad city, Nangarhar province, just 117-119 kilometres from Kabul and close to the eastern border with Pakistan.

The German earthquake monitor GFZ shows several red circles in the area indicating aftershocks.

At least 20 people have been confirmed dead so far, according to officials, BBC reported.

Earlier, Naqibullah Rahimi, a spokesman for the Nangarhar Public Health Department, said 15 people were injured and taken to the hospital for treatment.

However, officials from the Taliban government told BBC they feared “hundreds” are believed to have been killed or injured.

While official death toll is not known yet, the quake hit a rural region prone to earthquakes. in 2023, when a magnitude 6.3 earthquake struck the are followed by strong aftershocks, the Taliban government estimated that at least 4,000 people died. The UN gave a far lower death toll of about 1,500. It was the deadliest natural disaster to strike Afghanistan in recent memory.

Several districts were feeling the aftershocks today after a magnitude-6.0 earthquake struck Afghanistan around midnight.

The USGS reported that the earthquake struck at 11.47pm local time (7.17pm GMT).

A magnitude-4.5 quake occurred 20 mins later.

The quake occurred at a shallow depth of shallow depth of 10 kilometres (six miles), which can often increase the intensity, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS).