KABUL, Afghanistan — A 6.0-magnitude earthquake struck eastern Afghanistan’s Kunar and Nangarhar provinces, killing at least 812 people and injuring over 2,800, authorities reported. The disaster, centered at a depth of 10 km, has deepened the country’s ongoing humanitarian crisis, with the United Nations estimating that more than half of Afghanistan’s population urgently needs aid.
The quake, which leveled mudbrick homes and destroyed three villages in Kunar, has overwhelmed the Taliban administration’s limited resources. Rescue operations face significant challenges in remote mountainous areas along the Pakistani border, where mobile networks are down. Military teams and helicopters have evacuated 420 wounded and deceased individuals, but the scale of destruction has left many stranded.
Humanitarian agencies describe Afghanistan as a “forgotten crisis,” with global attention diverted by other conflicts and donor fatigue driven by the Taliban’s restrictive policies, particularly on women aid workers. Funding for humanitarian efforts has plummeted from $3.8 billion in 2022 to $767 million this year. “So far, no foreign governments have reached out to provide support for rescue or relief work,” a spokesperson for Afghanistan’s foreign office stated. However, China expressed readiness to offer disaster relief “according to Afghanistan’s needs and within its capacity,” according to its foreign ministry.
U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres, in a post on X, announced that the U.N. mission in Afghanistan is preparing to assist affected areas. The quake’s impact is compounded by the country’s slow recovery from previous disasters, such as the 2022 earthquake in Herat, where many residents still live in temporary shelters.
Located in the seismically active Hindu Kush region, where the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates converge, Afghanistan is no stranger to deadly earthquakes. As rescue efforts continue, the lack of international support and ongoing aid cuts threaten to prolong the suffering of those hit hardest by this latest tragedy.
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