ISLAMABAD, Pakistan and LONDON — The demise toll from the earthquake in japanese Afghanistan, which all however destroyed a number of villages, rose on Tuesday to not less than 1,411 folks, a authorities spokesperson stated.
One other 3,124 had been injured within the 6.0 magnitude quake, which struck simply earlier than midnight on Sunday, Zabihullah Mujahid, the spokesperson, stated on social media.
“Rescue operations are nonetheless underway in all of the affected areas immediately,” Hamdullah Fitrat, the deputy spokesperson, stated on Tuesday. “Dozens of commandos have been airlifted to areas the place planes couldn’t land to drag out the injured from the rubble and transport them to an appropriate location.”
Amid rescue efforts, a second 5.2 magnitude earthquake struck japanese Afghanistan on Tuesday about 20 miles northeast of Jalalabad, in line with the USGS.
Afghan volunteers and Taliban safety personnel work to maneuver injured folks close to a navy helicopter following earthquakes within the Mazar Dara village of Nurgal, a district of the Kunar Province, in Jap Afghanistan, on Sept. 1, 2025.
Wakil Kohsar/AFP by way of Getty Photographs
Shah Mahmood, a Taliban official in Nangarhar Province, stated the quake on Sunday destroyed some 8,000 homes. Emergency responders have but to achieve some villages, the place they concern there could also be extra lifeless and injured underneath the rubble, he stated.
Sunday’s {powerful} earthquake’s epicenter was about 17 miles east of Jalalabad, in line with the U.S. Geological Survey.
Nearly the entire deaths had been in Kunar Province, officers stated in an announcement shared Monday by Zabihullah Mujahid, a authorities spokesperson. Others had been killed in Nangarhar Province, stated Mufti Abdul Matin Qani, spokesperson for the Ministry of Inside.
An Afghan injured man receives intravenous drips in a corn subject, after earthquakes at Mazar Dara village in Nurgal district, Kunar province, in Jap Afghanistan, on September 1, 2025.
Wakil Kohsar/AFP by way of Getty Photographs
Lethal earthquakes have struck Afghanistan a number of occasions lately, together with a 5.9 magnitude quake in June 2022 and a 6.3 magnitude one in October 2023. The demise toll for every of these quakes rose to over 1,000 folks, native officers stated of their aftermaths.
Earthquakes are widespread in each japanese and western Afghanistan, the place the India plate and the Eurasia plate intersect beneath the Hindu Kush mountains vary, in line with USGS.
“Since 1950, 71 different magnitude 6 or bigger earthquakes occurred inside 250 km of the August 31 earthquake, together with six magnitude 7 and bigger earthquakes,” USGS stated in a summary of the exercise it recorded throughout Sunday’s quake and the aftershocks.
The primary sturdy quake struck at about 11:47 p.m. native time on Sunday and was adopted by 4 weaker-but-still-powerful aftershocks into Monday, the USGS stated. These aftershocks measured 5.2, 5.2, 4.7 and 4.6, the group stated.
An estimated 12,000 folks have been straight affected by Sunday’s, in line with the World Well being Group in Afghanistan.
The toughest hit districts and villages in Kunar had been Chawkay, Nurgal, Chapa Dara, Dara-e-Pech and Watapur, the WHO stated in a report dated Monday. Constructions in different villages in Nangarhar and Laghman provinces had been additionally broken, the report stated.
“As the size of devastation from the Afghanistan earthquake turns into clearer, my deepest condolences go to the victims and their households,” Richard Bennett, the U.N. particular rapporteur for the nation, stated on social media on Tuesday.
An man Afghan walks previous a broken home following earthquakes within the Mazar Dara village of Nurgal, a district of the Kunar Province, in Jap Afghanistan, on September 1, 2025.
Wakil Kohsar/AFP by way of Getty Photographs
Most of the well being amenities within the affected areas gave the impression to be “practical” after the quake, the WHO stated, including that its native employees had been working on-site at a number of areas within the area, together with Nangarhar Regional Hospital.
At that hospital in Nangarhar, a number of injured kids had been being handled with out their mother and father or family members, in line with a spokesperson for the Ministry of Well being.
“These are painful and insufferable moments,” Dr. Sharafat zaman Amar, the spokesperson, said in a social media put up that included footage of a number of kids with seen accidents and bandages.
ABC Information’ Will Gretsky, Somayeh Malekian and Othon Leyva contributed to this report.
