Dozens of homes have been destroyed, leaving many families to spend cold and terrifying nights under the open sky.
Rescue and relief operations are still ongoing in Kunar following Monday night’s deadly earthquake.
After the devastating quake, a number of victims remain trapped under the rubble.
“In Mazar Valley of Kunar, efforts continue to rescue survivors, but in remote areas such as Arit and Shumash, some people are still under the debris, and reaching them is extremely difficult,” reports indicate.
The earthquake destroyed roads in these villages entirely, forcing rescue teams to walk for hours on foot or rely on air transport to reach the affected areas. In some places, helicopters cannot even land.
Mohammad Ghani, a member of a rescue team, said: “We have evacuated 500 injured people from here. Those above have been airlifted by aircraft. The martyrs outside were buried, but those inside the houses remain trapped.”
Abdul Azim, a victim, said: “There is no safe place left in our village. Women and children have been displaced. All houses are destroyed, and if one hasn’t fallen yet, the constant aftershocks, every half hour or 15 minutes, might bring it down as well.”
Meanwhile, residents of these areas say they have not yet received assistance. Lack of drinking water and food remains among their most urgent problems.
Shah Mardan, another victim, said: “The government should realize our situation. Our houses, belongings, and everything are gone. Only this one set of clothes is left on us. Nothing else remains.”
Mohammad Gul, also a victim, added: “The water that used to come through our pipes has been cut off. It’s been 24 hours without drinking water. Food supplies are buried under the rubble.”
Dozens of homes have been destroyed, leaving many families to spend cold and terrifying nights under the open sky.
Not only Nurgal Valley, but also Chawkay district of Kunar has been severely affected, and residents are facing immense challenges.
Rescue Efforts for Earthquake Victims Underway in Kunar
The Taliban have called for international aid as Afghanistan reels from an earthquake that killed more than 1,400 people and left thousands more injured.
Rescuers searched into the night for survivors after the 6.0-magnitude quake struck on Sunday destroying entire villages across the country’s eastern Kunar province, which borders Pakistan.
Many remained trapped under the debris of mud and stone homes built into steep valleys, but rescuers struggled to reach remote areas because of rough mountainous terrain and inclement weather. It was a shallow earthquake, taking place just six miles beneath the Earth’s surface, which is known to have a particularly destructive impact.
On Tuesday, a second earthquake, of magnitude 5.5, also at a shallow depth of six miles, shook south-eastern Afghanistan, prompting fears of further damage and destruction.
‘The walls collapsed around me’: Afghans describe quake devastation
Before the second quake the death toll had passed 1,411 with more than 3,000 people injured, Zabihullah Mujahid, a Taliban government spokesperson, said on Tuesday.
Authorities said they expected casualties to rise further once rescue teams reached more isolated locations, many which were still inaccessible more than 24 hours after the first earthquake struck.
Aseel, a humanitarian tech platform with networks around Afghanistan that has sent teams to the affected areas, said more people had been injured in the second quake, which was expected to push the death toll higher.
Sharafat Zaman, a spokesperson for the health ministry in Kabul, called for international aid to tackle the devastation. “We need it because here lots of people lost their lives and houses,” he said.
Afghanistan had already been suffering from a severe economic crisis and a crippling withdrawal of international aid after the takeover of the country by the Taliban in 2021. Hardline Taliban policies, such as a ban on female education and employment, have resulted in a sharp drop in international aid funding and humanitarian assistance to the country.
The disaster will further stretch the resources of the war-torn nation’s Taliban administration, which is also grappling with the return of hundreds of thousands of Afghans deported by Iran and Pakistan in recent weeks.
The Sunday quake razed three villages in Kunar and caused substantial damage in many others, authorities said. At least 610 people were killed in Kunar and there were 12 dead in Nangarhar, they added.
Ghazi Abad village, in the Nurgal district of Kunar, was a scene of devastation, the entire village destroyed. Homes had been reduced to rubble and many residents remained trapped under the debris.
Some villagers sat weeping amid the piled ruins of their homes. Others began laboriously clearing the debris by hand, or carried out the injured on makeshift stretchers.
“There is not a single standing room visible in this village,” said one resident, Abdullah. “The aftermath of the disaster suggests that life here was ended in mere seconds.”
Abdullah said adjoining villages had also suffered similar fates, completely levelled as the earthquake reduced every home to ruins. “The full extent of the earthquake’s impact will become clearer in the coming days as recovery efforts continue and many are still trapped,” he said.
“The losses are huge, people have no food and safe drinking water. While rescue operations are lacking, people are banding together to search for survivors and recover bodies all day and night. In one household there is no one left, everyone died here and their cattle are left alone.”
Another survivor said: “We need ambulances, we need doctors, we need everything to rescue the injured and recover the dead.”
In Kunar, the dead, some of them children, were wrapped in white shrouds by villagers who prayed over their bodies before burying them, while helicopters ferried the wounded to hospitals.
Rescuers were battling to reach remote mountainous areas cut off from mobile networks along the Pakistani border but their efforts were impeded by heavy rain, which heightened the risk of landslides and left many roads impassable. Military rescue teams fanned out across the region, the defence ministry said, with 40 flights carrying away 420 wounded and dead.
Experts urged the international community to step in and provide support, emphasising that the country’s rescue and relief organisations were barely functional.
“The funds of the Afghan government that have been frozen by the US and other countries should be disbursed to international organisations that are carrying out relief work in Afghanistan,” said Osama Malik, an expert in international law. “The Pakistani government should also halt Afghan deportations at such a critical time when Afghanistan will be unable to manage an influx.”
On Monday, Britain set out emergency funding support for those affected by the recent earthquakes, saying it would ensure that the aid did not go to the Taliban administration by channelling it through its partners.
The US state department posted its condolences on X on Monday for the loss of life but did not immediately respond when asked if the US would provide any assistance.
Afghanistan death toll passes 1,400 as second earthquake strikes
The World Food Programme is rushing emergency aid to Afghanistan’s quake-hit Kunar and Nangarhar provinces, where over 800 lives were lost and thousands injured.
The World Food Programme (WFP) is swiftly delivering emergency aid to Afghanistan, dispatching food and High Energy Biscuits to quake-hit communities in Kunar and Nangarhar provinces. Additional flights are planned to transport supplies and personnel to the affected regions.
WFP reports that many of the hardest-hit areas were already vulnerable due to recent flash floods, and incoming severe weather may further worsen humanitarian conditions.
Regional director Harald Mannhardt described the devastation as overwhelming: “Homes reduced to rubble, roads destroyed, landslides everywhere, and tragically, lives lost.”
Supporting rescue efforts, WFP is ready to scale up operations, while health teams continue damage assessments. Access remains severely limited due to obstructed roads, rugged terrain, and recurrent aftershocks.
The magnitude 6.0 quake has so far killed at least 800 people and injured nearly 2,800, with the toll expected to climb as search efforts proceed.
Despite funding constraints and access challenges, the WFP’s rapid food distribution marks a critical lifeline for those affected. Continued weather disruptions and damaged infrastructure highlight the need for sustained and fully coordinated humanitarian efforts.
International support, logistics, funding, and medical aid, will be pivotal in reaching isolated communities. Stabilizing the humanitarian response and safeguarding growing vulnerabilities will be essential for Afghanistan’s recovery in the aftermath of this disaster.
The statement also notes that SCO member states support international efforts aimed at assisting Afghanistan on the path to peace and development.
The members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) have emphasized in a joint statement that the formation of an inclusive government in Afghanistan is the only path toward achieving lasting peace and stability in the country.
The statement also notes that SCO member states support international efforts aimed at assisting Afghanistan on the path to peace and development.
Another section of the statement reads: “The SCO member states support an independent, neutral, peaceful Afghanistan free from terrorism, war, and narcotics.”
Additionally, the members welcomed the opening of the United Nations Regional Office for Sustainable Development Goals in Central Asia and Afghanistan, located in Almaty.
This comes as the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan has repeatedly stated that the current government is composed of representatives from all segments of Afghan society.
The summit of SCO member state leaders was held over two days in the city of Tianjin, China.
SCO Emphasizes Formation of Inclusive Government in Afghanistan
Al-Qashouti added that his country remains committed to supporting stability, economic cooperation, and Afghanistan’s political process.
Mirdaf Al-Qashouti, Qatar’s Chargé d’Affaires to Afghanistan, told TOLOnews that Qatar’s efforts to improve relations between Kabul and Washington have been ongoing since 2014.
Al-Qashouti added that his country remains committed to supporting stability, economic cooperation, and Afghanistan’s political process.
Referring to the 2021 agreement between Doha and Washington, he described his country’s role in safeguarding U.S. interests in Afghanistan as vital and stressed that the continuation of the Doha meetings depends on the will of the international community.
The Qatari diplomat said: “In 2021, we signed an agreement with the United States to ensure that Qatar protects U.S. interests in Afghanistan. We can officially represent U.S. interests in Afghanistan; we can serve as mediators and also provide consular, non-consular, and diplomatic services between Afghanistan and the United States.”
In this interview, Al-Qashouti also reaffirmed his country’s long-term support for Afghanistan in various sectors, particularly stability and security, and emphasized that the recognition of the Islamic Emirate is an internal matter and the sovereign decision of individual states.
He stated: “We support any effort that brings stability and security to Afghanistan.”
Al-Qashouti further noted that the dispatch of Afghan workers to Qatar stems from a 2009 agreement, adding that its implementation was officially endorsed in 2022 by Qatari authorities.
He explained: “In 2009, an agreement was signed between Afghanistan and Qatar to regulate and facilitate the dispatch of Afghan workers to Qatar; but in 2022, this agreement was formally endorsed by Qatari leadership.”
Qatar is considered one of the key players in Afghanistan’s political process and developments, having played a significant role.
Following the fall of Kabul, the United States and several European countries relocated their embassies to Doha, where Qatar assumed responsibility for part of their diplomatic interests in Afghanistan. The country has also hosted multiple international conferences attended by representatives of the United Nations and countries with stakes in Afghan affairs.
Qatari Diplomat: Doha Continues Efforts to Bridge Kabul–Washington Relation
The disaster also resulted in the destruction of 5,412 houses.
The death toll from the earthquake in Kunar has so far risen to more than 1,400 people.
According to Hamdullah Fitrat, deputy spokesperson of the Islamic Emirate, in this devastating earthquake in the districts of Nurgal, Suki, Chapa Dara, Pech Dara, Watapur, and the provincial capital Asadabad, another 3,000 people have been injured.
The disaster also resulted in the destruction of 5,412 houses.
Fitrat stated: “In the districts of Nurgal, Suki, Chapa Dara, Pech Dara, Watapur, and Asadabad, the total number of martyrs has so far reached 1,411, with 3,124 injured, and 5,412 houses destroyed. Today, rescue operations are still ongoing in all affected areas. In regions where helicopters could not land, hundreds of commando forces were air-dropped to rescue the injured from under the rubble and transfer them to safe locations.”
Meanwhile, in the “Diwa Gul” valley of Suki district, 35 members of a single family lost their lives.
Akhtar Mohammad, a member of one of the victim families in Kunar, said: “I was asleep when a loud noise struck, and my entire family was buried under rocks. Ten minutes later, my elder brother, who had survived, arrived and called out what had happened. At that moment, my younger brother, who was injured, shouted for help to be freed from the rocks. They managed to rescue him, but I remained trapped under the rubble, unable to see anything.”
Khir Mohammad, another member of the victim families in Kunar, said: “My brother has been taken to the hospital. One of my brothers is slightly injured, but the rest of my family have all been martyred—four of my brothers, my father, mother, two sisters, daughters-in-law, my children, and nephews—all have died.”
Although rescue operations by the Islamic Emirate and local residents are ongoing in the earthquake-hit areas of Kunar, locals are urging authorities and international aid agencies for greater assistance.
Death Toll in Kunar Earthquake Rises Above 1,400, Thousands Injured
Villages remain cut off in the remote, mountainous areas in the east that have been hardest hit by the disaster, which has killed at least 1,400 people.
When what sounded like an explosion jolted Mirza Gul Sayar out of bed on Sunday night, he woke his wife and they rushed outside with their two children. They found his parents, his younger brother and wife already out in the darkness.
But with Mr. Sayar’s older brother and his family nowhere to be seen, his parents and brother ran back inside.
A few seconds later, another tremor shook the ground of eastern Afghanistan, and the family house collapsed. Around them, the screams and cries of neighbors echoed in the village.
“It was like doomsday for us,” Mr. Sayar said as he rested on a carpet in his cornfield, where he was spending Monday night with the surviving members of his family.
The earthquake that rocked eastern Afghanistan on Sunday killed at least 1,400 people and injured more than 3,100 others, according to the country’s authorities. It destroyed thousands of fragile houses and wiped away entire villages perched on the steep hills of the mountainous region or nestled in narrow valleys.
Map: 6.0-Magnitude Earthquake Strikes Afghanistan
View the location of the quake’s epicenter and shake area.
Rescue workers on the ground say it will take days to scour the rubble of villages that, two days after the quake, were still out of reach. The Afghan military has evacuated hundreds of people, the injured and the dead, while U.N. agencies have been working to recommission a helicopter that had been grounded as a result of aid cuts from the United States and other foreign donors.
Reports so far provide an incomplete picture of the devastation that has swept through eastern Afghanistan.
“All the figures that have been announced so far are from the villages where the government and military rescue teams could have access,” said Zahidullah Safi, the director of a district clinic in Kunar Province — one of the worst-hit areas, and where Mr. Sayar’s family lives. “There are some villages which are still under the debris and so far, no government or aid agency has arrived there.”
Sunday’s quake, the second devastating one in less than two years in Afghanistan, has added another layer of calamity on top of the overlapping economic, humanitarian and environmental crises that have all worsened in the South Asian nation over the past few months.
Emergency aid had already become scarcer this year after the United States and other major donors cut, suspended or reduced their humanitarian contributions to Afghanistan. Last year, the United States contributed more than 45 percent of the aid supplied to the country. That all but vanished after the Trump administration decimated the U. S. Agency for International Development and other foreign aid programs.
Even before the earthquake, U.N. agencies estimated that Afghanistan needed $2.4 billion in humanitarian funding this year, but they say that less than 30 percent of that sum has been received.
On Tuesday, Britain said that it would commit about $1.3 million in emergency support for those affected by the disaster. David Lammy, the British foreign secretary, said in a statement that the money would be distributed via the International Federation for the Red Cross and the U. N. Population Fund to ensure that “aid reaches those in need and does not go to the Taliban.”
The European Union is set to work with UNICEF, according to Sherine Ibrahim, the Afghanistan director for the International Rescue Committee, a nonprofit organization. The U.N. office for humanitarian affairs said it had unlocked $5 million in emergency funds.
Like Britain, many countries are wary of committing funds that may end up in the hands of the Taliban government.
A report by the U.S. Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction published last month found that “the Taliban use every means at their disposal, including force, to ensure that aid goes where they want it to go, as opposed to where donors intend.”
Humanitarian workers have urged, so far with little success, that politics be set aside.
“A lot of help and assistance is still needed,” said Homa Nader, acting head of the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent in Afghanistan.
This was all too apparent in Kunar’s Mazardara Valley. That was where Mr. Sayar lost seven family members in the quake.
On Monday and Tuesday, villagers and emergency workers searched through for neighbors, relatives and friends, dead or alive. They carried them on makeshift stretchers like bed frames over slopes and through narrow alleys, down to trampled cornfields where helicopters were landing and taking off. They flew back and forth between the devastated areas and the hospitals of Jalalabad, the closest large city, and Kabul, the capital, about 100 miles away.
Khalil Ur Rahman Babakhil, 30, had traveled from Kabul to Mazardara, where his in-laws lived. When he arrived on Monday, he found their house collapsed, and in front of it the bodies of his wife’s parents and three siblings.
“I don’t know how to let my wife know,” Mr. Babakhil said.
The bodies, like so many others, lay wrapped in colorful blankets because villagers had run out of the traditional white shrouds used to bury the dead.
Before the earthquake, more than half of Afghanistan’s 42 million people were already in need of humanitarian assistance. In Kunar Province’s remote district of Nurgal, where Mr. Sayar lives, most communities live in extreme poverty, with no steady source of income other than their biannual harvest of corn, which brings them about $220 a year.
About 3.5 million children under 5 are malnourished in Afghanistan, according to UNICEF.
On Tuesday in Kunar Province, children sat in silence in ambulances or walked bewildered among the collapsed homes.
“Last night before the earthquake we were together, we had dinner together and then we slept together,” said Nezarullah, who goes by one name. “How can I help my younger brother and how can I rebuild the destroyed home, when I have nothing?”
In his cornfield, Mr. Sayar recounted the terror of two days earlier.
After he escaped the house, he said, he heard his sister-in-law, still inside, screaming in the middle of the night after the second tremor. But in the darkness, and without any tools, the people outside could do nothing to help.
When the sun rose on Monday, Mr. Sayar found her dead, with her son. He also found his parents and younger brother, who had fled the house but then rushed back inside. Now they, too, were dead.
Elian Peltier is an international correspondent for The Times, covering Afghanistan and Pakistan.
KABUL, Sept 1 (Reuters) – The shrinking of funding for Afghanistan, led by U.S. aid cuts, was hampering the response on Monday to a powerful earthquake in the east, with dozens of clinics closed and a helicopter out of use, humanitarian officials said.
The magnitude 6 tremor hit overnight, levelling villages, killing at least 800 people and injuring more than 2,800 in remote mountainside areas.
The ruling Taliban administration and aid officials have a daunting task to rescue and help thousands of Afghans with a tinier budget than ever and an economy in crisis.
“The actual delivery of response has been badly hit by the funding cuts this year, but also the number of people we have on the ground is much less than we would have had six months ago,” said Kate Carey, deputy head of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Afghanistan.
It was the third major deadly earthquake since the Taliban took over in 2021 in a nation also reeling from conflict, droughts, floods and the push-back of 2.1 million Afghans by neighbouring countries.
Afghanistan has been badly affected since U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration in January began funding cuts to its humanitarian arm USAID and aid programs worldwide in what he casts as part of a broader plan to remove wasteful spending.
But even before that, funding was shrinking to Afghanistan due to competing emergencies in areas like Ukraine, Gaza and Sudan, as well as frustration from donor governments over the Taliban’s policies towards women, especially its restrictions on the work of Afghan female NGO staff.
Humanitarian aid, aimed at bypassing political institutions to serve urgent needs, has shrunk to $767 million this year, down from $3.8 billion in 2022.
The impact of the cuts was starkly illustrated by the latest crisis, Carey said, with a creaking health system now dealing with thousands of patients hit by falling rubble.
Forty-four health clinics catering to over 363,000 people in Nangarhar and Kunar, the provinces worst-affected by the quake, suspended operations or closed this year due to U.S. aid cuts, according to World Health Organization figures.
NO HELICOPTER
Where in the past a helicopter would have taken health teams and supplies to remote villages only accessible by foot, funding cuts to the World Food Programme, which runs a humanitarian air service, put the aircraft out of commission earlier this year, Carey said.
The Taliban has appealed for more aid in a country where half the population was already in need of urgent humanitarian assistance according to U.N. estimates.
“Support from the international community is seen as essential,” said Abdul Rahman Habib, spokesperson for the Taliban-run Ministry of Economy, noting the fall in funds for food, healthcare, displaced people and communities hit by climate change.
Aid has been a lifeline during Afghanistan’s global isolation under the Taliban, whose government has only formally been recognised by Russia. Sanctions on some of its leaders have hampered the banking sector and the U.S. has frozen billions in central bank assets.
Taliban authorities do not publicly release their annual budget. The World Bank noted in April that although authorities’ tax and revenues mobilisation had been relatively strong, it had not been enough to offset the sharp drop in aid.
As well as the global funding plunge, the U.N. and charities have to navigate a plethora of complex policies on operations under the Taliban, which says Afghan female aid staff should not work though there are exemptions in health and education.
The Taliban, which has closed high schools and universities to female students and placed restrictions on their movement without a male guardian, says it respects women’s rights in accordance with its interpretation of Islamic law.
Sherine Ibrahim, the International Rescue Committee’s Afghanistan Director, said on Monday that the funding cuts were a drag on the response to Afghanistan’s latest disaster.
“Although we have been able to act fast, we are profoundly fearful for the additional strain that this disaster will have on the overall humanitarian response in Afghanistan,” she said.
Reporting by Charlotte Greenfield in Islamabad and Mohammad Yunus Yawar in Kabul; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne
Funding cuts to Afghanistan obstruct earthquake response
Afghanistan was not invited to the 2025 SCO summit in Tianjin, as member states stressed an inclusive government is essential for peace and regional stability.
The main session of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) convened today, September 1, 2025, in Tianjin, China, without Afghanistan’s participation. Despite being an observer state since 2005, Afghanistan was not invited to this year’s summit.
This marks the fourth consecutive year Afghanistan has been excluded from SCO meetings. The continued absence reflects concerns among member states over the political situation since the Taliban’s return to power in 2021.
Member nations reiterated during the meeting that establishing an inclusive government representing all ethnic and political groups remains the only viable path toward lasting peace and stability in Afghanistan.
The SCO members jointly underscored that meaningful political participation across Afghanistan society is essential for stability, signaling that regional cooperation will remain limited until concrete political reforms are undertaken.
Experts note that the exclusion highlights the international community’s broader stance: until the Taliban fulfills commitments on forming an inclusive government and respecting human rights, Afghanistan risks continued marginalization in regional bodies.
Afghanistan’s absence from influential forums such as the SCO may further isolate the country diplomatically. Without reforms, Kabul could lose opportunities for vital regional cooperation, trade, and security support.
Afghanistan Excluded from SCO Summit for Fourth Year
Many homes in the affected areas are built with mud bricks and wood, making them highly vulnerable to collapse
A 6.0 magnitude earthquake has struck Afghanistan’s mountainous eastern region, with authorities saying hundreds of people have been killed.
The quake hit at 23:47 local time on Sunday (19:17 GMT) with its epicentre 27km (17 miles) away from Jalalabad, the country’s fifth-largest city, in eastern Nangarhar province.
It was shallow – only 8km deep – and was felt 140km away in the capital, Kabul, as well as in neighbouring Pakistan. Hundreds of people are thought to have died.
The initial quake was followed by a number of large aftershocks, which are thought to have caused further deaths.
Details are still emerging and it could be some time before the extent of the damage and number of deaths is known.
What we know so far
Initial reports indicate significant casualties and widespread damage across parts of the far western Nangarhar and Kunar provinces of Afghanistan.
These mountainous areas are extremely challenging to reach even at the best of times, which is hampering rescue and relief operations.
More than 800 people are feared dead, the Taliban’s interior ministry has said, but warns that there is still no clear death toll. There are reports that hundreds more have been injured.
The BBC has been told that the road leading to the epicentre has been blocked because of a landslide, so the Taliban government is using helicopters to get people out.
Multiple sources from the government have said that dozens of houses are buried under the rubble. Aid from international organisations has been requested.
Access by road to the worst-hit areas remains blocked, but hundreds of homes are likely to have been destroyed, according to Salam Al Janabi from the UN children’s charity Unicef.
The aid organisation World Vision says that entire villages in Chawki and Nurgal regions – both in Kunar province – have been completely or partially destroyed, with homes made of mud and timber collapsing and trapping residents under rubble.
An official in Nurgal told the news agency AFP that many of those living in the quake-hit villages had returned to the country from Iran and Pakistan in recent years. Both nations have stepped up efforts to deport more than a million Afghans – many of whom had initially fled the country to escape violence.
The earthquake came in the wake of flash flooding over the weekend which left at least five dead, according to local media. The flood, which caused landslides and damaged infrastructure, also temporarily disrupted traffic between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Why news is taking time to emerge
As we have reported, the nature of the terrain means it is difficult to access and there are limited communications – meaning it will take longer to get updates on the situation. There is also likely to be damage to infrastructure, making it even harder to reach affected areas.
During previous major earthquakes, the death toll jumped up steeply once access to the affected areas was established.
However, there are other factors that hamper both our ability to get accurate information about the situation and in getting aid into the affected areas.
Since August 2021 the country has been under the control of the Taliban, whose government most of the world does not recognise.
The return of the hardline Islamist group to power sparked an exodus of international journalists, with organisations like the BBC pulling many of their staff from the country.
Several aid agencies and NGOs also suspended their work in Afghanistan as a result – meaning there are fewer ways to verify what is happening there.
However, there are no restrictions on allowing in international aid.
Can Afghanistan cope?
Afghanistan was pushed into economic collapse when the Taliban took over and more than 23 million Afghans are now in need of humanitarian assistance, according to the International Rescue Committee.
Most foreign donations to Afghanistan have been suspended and international sanctions, which date back to when the Taliban were first in power in the 1990s, are still in place – although exemptions have been made for humanitarian relief.
Prior to the Taliban takeover, about 80% of Afghanistan’s budget came from foreign donors. This funded nearly all public healthcare, which has since collapsed.
Jalalabad’s main hospital – the biggest medical facility close to the epicentre – is already overwhelmed, being right at the centre of the crossing point for the tens of thousands of Afghans being deported from neighbouring Pakistan.
There are concerns that the health and safety of women and girls could be at greater risk due to the restrictions placed on them by the Taliban government.
These “continue to limit their access to life-saving services, leaving them [women and girls] among the most vulnerable in the aftermath of the quake”, said Graham Davison, head of the Afghanistan branch of the international aid group Care.
Kunar is a very conservative area, so for cultural reasons, women might end up being treated later. It is feared some women may have chosen to stay, or wait for daylight to be taken to hospital by their families.
The powerful earthquake in the Paktika province of 2022 saw the number of injured women in hospitals rise two days after the earthquake.
It is also important to note that there are no female rescuers on the ground.
Why are earthquakes particularly damaging in Afghanistan?
Afghanistan is very prone to earthquakes because it is located on top of a number of fault lines where the Indian and Eurasian plates meet.
Earthquakes happen when there is sudden movement along the tectonic plates which make up the Earth’s surface. Fractures called fault lines occur where the plates collide.
Shallow earthquakes are common in the country and are more destructive, as seismic waves have less of a distance to travel to the Earth’s surface and therefore retain much of their power.
Buildings in Afghanistan also tend to be made of timber, mud brick or weak concrete, which are not quake-resistant.
A lot of damage also comes from landslides caused by earthquakes, which can flatten houses in mountain villages and block rivers, causing flooding.
Afghanistan earthquake: What we know – and what we don’t
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
