A devastating 6+ magnitude earthquake has struck Afghanistan, killing at least 800 people and leaving over 2,500 injured in communities across the country.
UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is on the ground, mobilizing emergency shelter and lifesaving relief items to affected areas. However, we need your help to provide emergency aid. Your donation will rush aid within 72 hours to the most vulnerable communities.
This disaster is another blow for the people of Afghanistan, who are already living through multiple crises. Millions are facing extreme poverty and hunger, as well as the impact of decades of conflict, a severe drought and economic collapse. More than 2.4 million Afghans have returned or been forced to return to Afghanistan this year, to communities that are already struggling.
Multiple crises are unfolding at once, and our resources are stretched to the breaking point. Supporters like you are needed now more than ever.
Trump administration ended virtually all aid to Afghanistan in April
UN aid chief says quake latest crisis to expose impact of funding cuts on humanitarian work
UN says initial donations received from multiple countries, but more aid needed
WASHINGTON, Sept 6 (Reuters) – Nearly a week after an earthquake killed more than 2,200 people in Afghanistan and left tens of thousands homeless, the United States has not taken the first step to authorize emergency aid, and it was unclear if it plans to help at all, two former senior U.S. officials and a source familiar with the situation told Reuters.
The lack of response by Washington to one of Afghanistan’s deadliest quakes in years underscores how President Donald Trump has forfeited decades of U.S. leadership of global disaster relief with his deep foreign aid cuts and closure of the main U.S. foreign assistance agency, said the source and the former officials.
The U.S. Agency for International Development was officially shuttered on Tuesday. The State Department on Monday extended its “heartfelt condolences” to Afghanistan in an X post. As of Friday, however, the State Department had not approved a declaration of humanitarian need, the first step in authorizing U.S. emergency relief, said the former officials, both of whom worked at USAID, and the third source, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal.
Such a declaration is usually issued within 24 hours of a major disaster.
The sources said State Department officials had considered recommendations for U.S. disaster aid for Afghanistan. One former senior official said the White House also has considered the issue, but decided against reversing a policy of ending aid to Afghanistan.
When asked if the U.S. would provide any emergency aid to Afghanistan following the magnitude 6 quake on Sunday, which was followed by powerful aftershocks on Thursday and Friday, a State Department spokesperson said: “We have nothing further to announce at this time.”
The United States was, until this year, the largest aid donor to Afghanistan, where it fought a 20-year war that ended with a chaotic U.S. withdrawal and the Taliban’s seizure of Kabul in 2021.
But in April, the Trump administration ended virtually all aid – totaling $562 million – to Afghanistan, citing a U.S. watchdog report that humanitarian groups receiving U.S. funds had paid $10.9 million in taxes, fees, and duties to the Taliban.
Asked whether the U.S. would provide emergency relief for earthquake survivors, a White House official said, “President Trump has been consistent in ensuring aid does not land in the hands of the Taliban regime, which continues to wrongfully detain U.S. citizens.”
‘STUCK IN STORAGE’
United Nations aid chief Tom Fletcher said the Afghan earthquake was “the latest crisis to expose the cost of shrinking resources on vital humanitarian work.”
“Massive funding cuts have already brought essential health and nutrition services for millions to a halt; grounded aircraft, which are often the only lifeline to remote communities; and forced aid agencies to reduce their footprint,” he said in a statement on Thursday.
The Trump administration also has yet to respond to a request by the International Rescue Committee humanitarian organization to send $105,000 worth of U.S.-funded medical supplies following the first earthquake.
The materials include stethoscopes, first aid supplies, stretchers, and other essentials, said Kelly Razzouk, vice president of policy and advocacy for the IRC.
“The stocks are stuck in storage,” said Razzouk, who served on former U.S. President Joe Biden’s National Security Council. “In recent memory, I can’t remember a time when the U.S. did not respond to a crisis like this.”
The IRC needs Washington’s permission to send the equipment to Afghanistan because it had been funded by an unrelated U.S. grant that the Trump administration had since canceled.
“Beyond the loss of life, we have also seen basic infrastructure and livelihoods destroyed,” Stephen Rodriguez, the representative in Afghanistan for the U.N. Development Programme, told reporters on Friday.
He said donations of money, goods, and services have come from Britain, South Korea, Australia, India, Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, and other countries.
“Far more is needed.”
Reporting by Jonathan Landay; additional reporting by Michelle Nichols and Charlotte Greenfield; Editing by Rod Nickel
US yet to approve any help following Afghanistan earthquake, sources say
Four days after Afghanistan’s Kunar earthquake, official reports confirm 1,457 deaths and 3,394 injuries. Over 6,700 homes destroyed as international aid struggles to reach remote communities.
The death toll from the powerful earthquake that struck Afghanistan’s eastern Kunar province has risen to 1,457, Taliban officials confirmed on Thursday, four days after the disaster.
Hamdullah Fitrat, deputy spokesman for the Taliban, said at least 3,394 people were injured, while more than 6,782 homes were destroyed across Kunar and neighboring Nangarhar.
Rescue workers are still pulling bodies from beneath the rubble, with officials acknowledging that the recovery operation remains far from complete. Survivors continue to face shortages of food, water, and medical care.
Taliban authorities claim that humanitarian assistance has reached many families and that roads to remote quake-hit areas have been reopened. They also reported that specialized rescue teams from several countries have joined ongoing operations.
Despite these assurances, residents and aid workers say relief efforts remain slow and uneven. The difficult mountainous terrain and widespread damage have made it hard to reach communities most in need.
International organizations, including the Red Cross and the World Health Organization, along with aid shipments from Turkey, Iran, India, and Japan, are working to support local operations. Relief agencies warn that access challenges are delaying critical supplies and medical assistance.
The earthquake is among Afghanistan’s deadliest in recent years, exposing once again the country’s fragile infrastructure and limited disaster response capacity. With thousands displaced, immediate international aid remains vital to prevent further loss of life.
Humanitarian groups stress that long-term recovery planning is essential. Without sustained global support, affected communities risk enduring years of hardship long after the initial rescue operations have ended.
Afghanistan Earthquake Death Toll Rises to 1,457 as Rescue Efforts Continue
According to them, after the expiration of the designated deadline (August 31), the Pakistani government has intensified the forced removal of Afghan migrants.
A number of Afghan migrants in Pakistan report a sharp increase in forced deportations from the country in recent days.
According to them, after the expiration of the designated deadline (August 31), the Pakistani government has intensified the forced removal of Afghan migrants.
Mir Miakhil, a representative of Afghan migrants in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, said: “People are extremely anxious because they have been doing business here for nearly forty years, and dismantling everything in such a short period is impossible.”
Atiqullah Mansoor, an Afghan migrant in Pakistan, stated: “Not only did they not halt the deportations, but they escalated the process. We and international organizations have repeatedly appealed to the Pakistani government to carry out the deportations in a gradual and safe manner.”
Several other Afghan migrants also criticized the Pakistani government’s refusal to extend their visas. According to them, this lack of renewal has placed them in serious hardship.
Some migrant rights activists, emphasizing the need to resolve the challenges faced by refugees, are calling on Pakistan to halt the forced deportations until the situation in Afghanistan normalizes.
Mohammad Reza Sazesh, an Afghan migrant in Pakistan, said: “Afghan refugees are struggling with numerous problems. Visa renewals have been halted, and there is no possibility of extending them.”
Jamal Muslim, a migrant rights activist, said: “Pakistan must remain committed to its core obligations. Even now, thousands of Afghan refugees with legal documents are being humiliated.”
Although Pakistan has not officially announced the start of the third phase of Afghan migrant deportations, Pakistani media previously reported that Islamabad plans to begin deporting approximately 1.3 million Afghan migrants with POR (Proof of Registration) cards starting from September 1.
Sharp Rise in Forced Deportations of Afghan Migrants from Pakistan
However, earthquake survivors in Kunar say they have lost everything and now desperately need immediate assistance, especially shelter.
As the crisis in Kunar continues, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) announced that following the recent earthquake in eastern Afghanistan, assessments and relief operations are ongoing under very difficult conditions. According to the agency, aftershocks have created additional problems for residents, forcing many families to spend nights outdoors.
UN Secretary-General’s spokesperson, Stéphane Dujarric, said: “ Despite these difficulties, food and shelter distribution have started, as well as the provision of health assistance, including through mobile health and nutrition teams. Our humanitarian colleagues tell us that urgent priorities remain shelter, medical supplies, drinking water, food and sanitation.”
Meanwhile, yesterday afternoon four military planes carrying humanitarian aid from Qatar arrived in Kabul, led by a delegation headed by Maryam bint Ali bin Nasser Al-Misnad, Qatar’s Minister of International Cooperation.
Al-Misnad, who was warmly welcomed by the Islamic Emirate’s Foreign Ministry, said the visit was made under the instruction of Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani with the aim of helping the people of Afghanistan during this crisis.
She added: “We have come here under the instruction of Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani to respect human dignity and to assist the people of Afghanistan in this crisis. With us is the ‘Lakhoya’ search and rescue team whose mission is to deliver medical aid, set up field hospitals, assist people in quake-hit areas, and work to save lives.”
However, earthquake survivors in Kunar say they have lost everything and now desperately need immediate assistance, especially shelter. They are calling for aid to reach affected areas as quickly as possible.
Alam Jan, a survivor, said: “We left our house, and everything we owned was destroyed. Only my clothes remained with me; I lost everything else.”
Darbar, another survivor, said: “Our sorrow is first with God, then with the people. Everything we had is gone, we have nothing left.”
Sunday night’s earthquake caused the most damage in the districts of Dara Mazar, Nurgal, and Suki in Kunar, killing nearly 2,200 people and causing massive financial losses.
Still, many people remain trapped under the rubble, and difficulties in accessing these areas have created serious obstacles for relief efforts.
UN: Aftershocks Deepen Humanitarian Crisis in Kunar
A magnitude 5.6 earthquake struck Afghanistan’s remote south-eastern region on Thursday night, the third quake in six days, as the death toll from the first continued to rise.
The shallow quake hit at 20:56 local time (15:36 GMT) and sent people in Nangarhar and Kunar provinces scampering out of shelters in fear.
There was no immediate official report of casualties from Thursday night’s earthquake, but medics on the ground told the BBC that 17 wounded people were brought to Kunar Provincial Hospital.
Sunday’s quake has killed 1,368 people and wounded 2,180 others, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OHCA) said, citing reports from 25 villages.
The region’s rough and mountainous terrain continues to hamper rescue and disaster relief operations, the government said.
A second earthquake of magnitude 5.5 on Tuesday temporarily halted rescue operations, which have mostly been conducted by helicopters as debris from landslides cuts off access to remote villages.
There have also been a steady stream of aftershocks.
“Rescue and search efforts are still ongoing, tents have been set up for people in various areas, and the delivery of first aid and emergency supplies is ongoing,” Hamdullah Fitrat, deputy spokesman for the Taliban government, said on X.
The Taliban government – which is only recognised by Russia – has appealed for international help. The UN has released emergency funds, while the UK has pledged £1m ($1.3m) in aid.
Afghanistan is very prone to earthquakes because of its location on top of a number of fault lines where the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates meet.
In 2023, more than 1,400 people died after a series of 6.3-magnitude earthquakes hit western Afghanistan, near the city of Herat.
The year before that, a 5.9-magnitude earthquake struck eastern Afghanistan, killing at least 1,000 people and injuring another 3,000.
Rescuers have recovered hundreds of bodies from mountainous areas of southeastern Afghanistan, which was hit by a major earthquake at the weekend, taking the death toll to more than 2,200, according to a Taliban government spokesperson.
Previous estimates said some 1,400 people were killed. Taliban spokesperson Hamdullah Fitrat said on Thursday that the updated death toll was 2,205.
“Tents have been set up for people, and the delivery of first aid and emergency supplies is ongoing,” Fitrat said.
A third earthquake struck the region on Thursday, as search and rescue efforts were continuing. No new deaths have yet been reported after the magnitude 6.2 earthquake. Sunday’s quake was one of the deadliest in recent times due, in part, to how shallow it was, with its epicentre at a depth of about eight kilometres (five miles).
At least 3,640 people were injured in the magnitude 6 quake on Sunday and a subsequent magnitude 5.5 quake on Tuesday, the Taliban said, with the United Nations warning the death toll could rise as more people are still trapped under rubble, particularly in the worst-hit provinces of Kunar.
“What we’re seeing on the ground is utter devastation, a real catastrophe,” John Aylieff, country director for World Food Programme Afghanistan, told Al Jazeera on Thursday. “We have houses razed to the ground.”
Most of the casualties have been in Kunar province, where people typically live in wood and mud-brick houses along steep river valleys separated by high mountains.
More than 6,700 homes have been destroyed, authorities have said. Survivors are sifting through debris in their search for loved ones. The rough terrain is hindering relief efforts.
Taliban authorities have deployed helicopters and airdropped army commandos to help survivors. Aid workers have reported walking for hours to reach villages cut off by landslides and rockfall.
Obaidullah Stoman, 26, who travelled to the village of Wadir in Kunar’s Nugral district to search for a friend, told the AFP news agency that there was “only rubble left”.
“I’m searching here, but I didn’t see him. It was very difficult for me to see the conditions here,” he said.
Akhlaq, 14, who was injured and evacuated to the hospital, lost five members of his family to the earthquake in the remote village.
“We cannot accurately predict how many bodies might still be trapped under the rubble,” said Ehsanullah Ehsan, the head of disaster management for eastern Afghanistan’s Kunar region.
The World Food Programme has only enough supplies to last for a few weeks, Aylieff warned on Thursday, saying rescue teams are experiencing difficulty reaching remote villages affected by the earthquakes.
“Even our off-the-road trucks cannot get through, so we’re using every means possible, small pick-ups, pack animals, and even in some cases, villagers are coming down and carrying food back to the communities,” he told Al Jazeera.
[Al Jazeera]
Afghanistan has experienced devastating earthquakes in the past due to its location at the point where the Indian and Eurasian plates converge.
More than 2,000 people were killed in the western province of Herat in the country’s deadliest earthquake in October 2023. A year before, 1,000 people were killed after a magnitude 6.1 earthquake hit the eastern provinces of Paktika, Paktia, Khost, and Nangarhar.
A prohibition on contact between unrelated women and men meant many women’s wounds went untended and some were left trapped under rubble after a deadly earthquake, witnesses said.
The first rescue workers reached Bibi Aysha’s village more than 36 hours after an earthquake devastated settlements across eastern Afghanistan’s mountainous areas on Sunday. But instead of bringing relief, the sight of them heightened her fears; not a single woman was among them.
Afghan cultural norms, enforced even in emergencies by the ruling Taliban, forbid physical contact between men and women who are not family members. In the village of Andarluckak, in Kunar Province, the emergency team hurriedly carried out wounded men and children, and treated their wounds, said Ms. Aysha, 19. But she and other women and adolescent girls, some of them bleeding, were pushed aside, she said.
“They gathered us in one corner and forgot about us,” she said. No one offered the women help, asked what they needed or even approached them.
Tahzeebullah Muhazeb, a male volunteer who traveled to Mazar Dara, also in Kunar Province, said that members of the all-male medical team there were hesitant to pull women out from under the rubble of collapsed buildings. Trapped and injured women were left under stones, waiting for women from other villages to reach the site and dig them out.
“It felt like women were invisible,” said Mr. Muhazeb, 33. He added, “The men and children were treated first, but the women were sitting apart, waiting for care.”
If no male relative was present, he said, rescue workers dragged dead women out by their clothes, so as not to make skin contact.
More than 2,200 people died and 3,600 others were injured in the magnitude 6 quake that flattened countless hamlets and villages, according to figures released by Afghanistan’s government.
The response to the quake on Sunday has epitomized the dual standards that women and girls face in Afghanistan, aid groups and humanitarian organizations say, trapped both under the rubble and the weight of gender discrimination.
“Women and girls will again bear the brunt of this disaster, so we must ensure their needs are at the heart of the response and recovery,” the special representative for U.N. Women Afghanistan, Susan Ferguson, said in a statement this week.
Though the Taliban have not released a gender breakdown of the casualties, women have faced an especially harsh ordeal, made worse by neglect and isolation, more than half a dozen doctors, rescue workers and women in areas hit by the quake said in interviews.
Afghanistan faces a critical shortage of health care workers and, in particular, of women in that field. Last year, the Taliban imposed a ban on women’s enrollment in medical education. The dearth of female doctors and rescue workers has been all too evident in the wake of the earthquake.
Women and girls in Afghanistan face some of the world’s most severe restrictions under the Taliban, who took power four years ago and have remained unflinching, even as most of the Muslim world, countless human rights organizations and bodies like the World Bank have warned against the long-lasting effects of such policies on the country’s social fabric and economy.
Girls are prohibited from going to school beyond sixth grade. Women cannot travel far without a male companion and are barred from most jobs, including in nonprofits and humanitarian organizations. Afghan women working for U.N. agencies have facedrepeated harassment, culminating in threats so serious this year that the agencies instructed their female employees to temporarily work from home.
A New York Times journalist who reached the Mazar Dara area the day after the quake didn’t see any women among the medical, rescue or aid teams treating victims. In one district hospital visited, there were no female staff members.
When a trickle of nurses and humanitarian workers began reaching the affected areas by Tuesday, only a few were women. Soldiers followed them and prevented journalists from asking them questions or photographing them.
A spokesman for the Taliban-run Ministry of Health acknowledged that there was a lack of female health workers in the quake-ravaged areas.
“But in hospitals in Kunar, Nangarhar and Laghman, the largest number of female doctors and nurses are working, especially to treat earthquake victims,” Sharafat Zaman, the spokesman, said of the worst-hit provinces.
In Ms. Aysha’s village, not a single female aid worker had come as of Thursday, nearly four days after the earthquake, she said.She and her 3-year-old son had spent the past three nights out in the open, as rain that fell over the past few days prevented her from reaching a shelter or the city where her husband works.
“God saved me and my son,” Ms. Aysha said. “But after that night, I understood — being a woman here means we are always the last to be seen.”
Safiullah Padshah contributed reporting.
Fatima Faizi is a reporter in the Kabul, Afghanistan, bureau.
After Afghan Quake, Many Male Rescuers Aided Men but Not Women
A 4.7-magnitude earthquake struck eastern Afghanistan near Jalalabad, days after Kunar’s deadly tremors, deepening fears as survivors await aid amid ongoing devastation and blocked relief access.
At 9:40 a.m. local time on Thursday, September 4, another earthquake measuring 4.7 struck eastern Afghanistan, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
The epicenter was reported near Jalalabad in Nangarhar province, with the tremor occurring at a depth of 13 kilometers beneath the earth’s surface.
This comes just days after a series of deadly earthquakes devastated Kunar province, killing more than 1,400 people and leaving thousands injured and homeless.
Rescue operations in Kunar remain underway, with bodies still being recovered from rubble and aid agencies struggling to reach remote mountainous areas blocked by landslides.
The repeated tremors have heightened fears among survivors, many of whom are sheltering outdoors in makeshift camps as they await emergency relief.
So far, no official reports of casualties or damage have been released, and local authorities are still assessing the impact in surrounding districts.
International aid agencies, including the UN and Red Cross, have rushed support to affected regions, but access challenges and the scale of devastation continue to slow relief efforts.
Humanitarian groups warn that urgent assistance; food, shelter, and medical care—is critical to prevent a worsening crisis in Kunar, where the death toll and injuries remain staggering.
Fresh Tremor of Magnitude 4.7 Jolts Eastern Afghanistan
The United Nations says aid workers are still in a “race against time” to remove rubble and rebuild after the devastating earthquake struck eastern Afghanistan last month, killing at least 2,200 people and cutting off remote areas.
The 6.0-magnitude quake on Aug. 31 was shallow, destroying or causing extensive damage to low-rise buildings in the mountainous region. It hit late at night, and homes — mostly made of mud, wood, or rocks — collapsed instantly, becoming death traps.
Satellite data shows that about 40,500 truckloads of debris still needs to be cleared from affected areas in several provinces, the United Nations Development Program said Wednesday. Entire communities have been upended and families are sleeping in the open, it added.
The quake’s epicenter was in remote and rugged Kunar province, challenging rescue and relief efforts by the Taliban government and humanitarian groups. Authorities deployed helicopters or airdropped army commandos to evacuate survivors. Aid workers walked for hours on foot to reach isolated communities.
“This is a race against time,” said Devanand Ramiah, from the UNDP’s Crisis Bureau. “Debris removal and reconstruction operations must start safely and swiftly.”
People’s main demands were the reconstruction of houses and water supplies, according to a spokesman for a Taliban government committee tasked with helping survivors, Zia ur Rahman Speenghar.
People were getting assistance in cash, food, tents, beds, and other necessities, Speenghar said Thursday. Three new roads were under construction in the Dewagal Valley, and roads would be built to areas where there previously were none.
“Various countries and organizations have offered assistance in the construction of houses but that takes time. After the second round of assistance, work will begin on the third round, which is considering what kind of houses can be built here,” the spokesman said.
Afghanistan is facing a “perfect storm” of crises, including natural disasters like the recent earthquake, said Roza Otunbayeva, who leads the U.N. mission to the country.
Afghanistan Peace Campaign
