800 killed in massive Afghanistan earthquake, villages razed: Key updates

The earthquake was 6.3 in magnitude and struck 27 kilometers east-northeast of the city of Jalalabad in Nangarhar province.

A massive earthquake rocked eastern Afghanistan on Sunday night, reportedly killing at least 800 people and injuring over 1,300 others. Several villages were razed, houses were destroyed and rescue teams rushed to remote areas that were prone to the jolts, for relief operations.

In this photo released by the Nangarhar Media Center, stretchers and ambulances are prepared to receive victims of an earthquake that killed hundreds and destroyed numerous villages in eastern Afghanistan. (AP)

Unverified videos circulating online showed bodies being carried by people, devastation all around and rescue teams being on site.

Here are latest developments:

• The earthquake was 6.3 in magnitude and struck 27 kilometers east-northeast of the city of Jalalabad in Nangarhar province. According to news agency AP, the tremors struck at 11:47 pm on Sunday and was just eight kilometres deep, which is more deadly because shallower earthquakes cause more damage.
• As per interior ministry spokesman Abdul Matin Qani, 800 people were killed and 1,300 were injured in Kunar. Besides, many houses were destroyed and three villages were razed in the province of Kunar.
• According to the United States Geological Survey, the population in the area where the quake struck was around 2,71,900. The agency also predicted at least one aftershock over the next week.
• “Rescue operations are still underway there, and 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,” said Sharafat Zaman, a spokesman for the ministry of public health.
• According to news agency Reuters, the quake struck 10 km deep in some parts, levelling homes made of mud and stone. Rescuers rushed to look for victims at village located to close to the area bordering Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
• There has been no intervention for help from any foreign governments yet for rescue and relief work, Afghanistan's foreign office spokesperson said.

Afghanistan is prone to deadly earthquakes, and witnessed similar incidents, like a magnitude 4.3 quake in February last year. That year, over 1,000 people were reportedly killed in different earthquake incidents, Reuters reported.

Before that, a magnitude 6.3 earthquake struck in October 2023, which led to the deaths of at least 4,000 people.

(With inputs from AP, Reuters)