More than 800 people have been killed – and nearly 3,000 injured – after a 6.0 magnitude earthquake struck eastern Afghanistan just before midnight on Sunday, the United Nations’ humanitarian agency has said.
Most of the deaths occurred in Kunar province, officials say, warning that the death toll may rise significantly as entire villages have been destroyed.
The epicentre was in a remote mountainous area, making it difficult for rescue operations to be carried out. “The scale of devastation is unimaginable,” a Taliban official said.
The disaster comes as Afghanistan reels from a severe drought, aid cuts and what the World Food Programme describes as an unprecedented hunger crisis.
The earthquake hit at 23:47 local time (19:47 GMT) on Sunday, some 27km (17 miles) east of Jalalabad – the country’s fifth-largest city, in eastern Nangarhar province.
“There was a very strong earthquake, accompanied by sounds that were very scary,” he told the BBC.
“We didn’t sleep until morning. After the earthquake, there were small tremors, and there are still.”
Fazli said he went to the clinic in town, helping transport the dead and wounded into ambulances to be taken to a hospital further south in Nangarhar province.
“It was a very scary situation, just an atmosphere of fear and terror,” Fazli said.
A resident of Mazar Dara, in the Nurgal region, said 95% of the village had been destroyed – with five to 10 injured people in every household.
