Taliban soldiers and civilians carry earthquake victims to an ambulance at an airport in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, on September 1, 2025. STRINGER / REUTERS
A strong magnitude 6.0 earthquake and multiple aftershocks in eastern Afghanistan near the Pakistan border has destroyed numerous villages and and caused extensive damage, killing at least 622 people and injuring at least 1,500 others, interior ministry officials told Agence France-Presse (AFP) on Monday, September 1. The deaths and injuries were expected to increase as search and rescue teams reached the area.
Read more How is the strength of an earthquake measured?
Two children were killed when the roof of their home caved in during the shaking, according to initial reports from provincial authorities. AFP photos showed several injured children seen receiving treatment at a nearby hospital. Nangarhar province was also hit by flooding overnight on Friday, which killed five people and destroyed crops and property, provincial authorities said.
In the earthquake that struck just before midnight on Sunday, “610 people were killed and 1,300 were injured in Kunar province, with numerous houses destroyed,” spokesman Abdul Mateen Qani said, adding that in Nangarhar province 12 people were killed and another 255 injured.
The earthquake struck just before midnight, shaking buildings from Kabul to neighbouring Pakistan’s capital Islamabad, around 370 kilometers away, for several seconds, AFP journalists said.
The epicentre of the quake, which struck at a relatively shallow depth of eight kilometers, was 27 kilometres from the city of Jalalabad in Nangarhar province, according to the US Geological Survey. Shallow quakes tend to cause more damage than deep tremors.
Frequent quakes
A series of aftershocks followed throughout the night, including a powerful and shallow 5.2-magnitude quake just after 4 am (23:30 GMT Sunday).
Afghanistan is frequently hit by earthquakes, especially in the Hindu Kush mountain range, near the junction of the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates.
Read more Subscribers only Humanitarian aid struggles to reach survivors of Afghanistan earthquake
Last year a series of strong quakes jolted Afghanistan’s Herat province, killing more than 1,500 people and damaging or destroying more than 63,000 homes, according to an assessment by the United Nations, the European Union and the Asian Development Bank.
Partner service
Learn French with Gymglish
Thanks to a daily lesson, an original story and a personalized correction, in 15 minutes per day.
Try for free
Help us improve Le Monde in English
Dear reader,
We’d love to hear your thoughts on Le Monde in English! Take this quick survey to help us improve it for you.
Take the survey
New
Le Monde’s app
Get the most out of your experience: download the app to enjoy Le Monde in English anywhere, anytime
Download
In 2015, more than 380 people were killed in Pakistan and Afghanistan when a powerful 7.5-magnitude earthquake ripped across the two countries, with the bulk of the deaths in Pakistan. In that disaster, 12 young Afghan girls were crushed to death in a stampede as they tried to flee their shaking school building.
Ravaged by four decades of war, Afghanistan is already contending with a humanitarian disaster. With the return of the Taliban, foreign aid to Afghanistan has shrunk dramatically, undermining the already impoverished nation’s ability to respond to disasters.
Read more Subscribers only In Afghanistan, the suspension of US aid leads to closure of 206 health centers
