Afghanistan Quake Kills Over 1,400 as Taliban Plead for Global Aid

A powerful earthquake in eastern Afghanistan has left at least 1,411 people dead and more than 3,000 injured, flattening entire villages and leaving thousands homeless. The disaster struck just before midnight Sunday near Jalalabad in Nangarhar province, close to the Pakistan border, shaking Kabul and sending terrified residents into the streets.

The 6.0-magnitude quake hit at a shallow depth of about five miles — the kind of tremor that wreaks the most damage. Kunar province took the worst blow, with three villages completely wiped out, while neighboring Nangarhar, Laghman, Nuristan, and Panjshir also reported severe damage.

The US Geological Survey recorded at least five aftershocks, including one at 5.2 magnitude. For Afghans, it’s an all-too-familiar tragedy: this is the third major earthquake since 2021, following deadly quakes in Paktika and Herat that killed thousands.

Rows of mud-brick homes collapsed in seconds. Photos show families clawing through rubble with bare hands and shovels. Survivors told harrowing stories of being trapped.

“I was half-buried and unable to get out,” said Sadiqullah, a Kunar resident who lost his wife and two sons. “Trust me, I could still hear their voices when the roof fell.”

Officials say the death toll will rise as rescuers reach remote mountain valleys. Nearly half a million people likely felt strong shaking, according to USGS estimates.

Getting help in has been brutally hard. Landslides, heavy rain, and broken roads are blocking access to the worst-hit areas. Taliban officials have sent in commandos to evacuate survivors, while aid groups are scrambling with helicopters where they can.

But the country’s health system is already hanging by a thread. More than 420 clinics have shut down this year alone due to aid cuts, including 80 in eastern Afghanistan — right where the quake hit hardest. Remaining facilities are overwhelmed. Children are being treated without parents by their side because families were separated in the chaos.

Since the Taliban seized power in 2021, global aid has dropped off a cliff. Many governments slashed support over the regime’s repression of women and girls. Earlier this year, the US cut $1.7 billion in aid contracts, followed by the UK, France, and Germany.

As a result, Afghanistan’s humanitarian funding has shrunk from $3.8 billion in 2022 to just $767 million this year, leaving millions hungry and aid groups stretched to breaking point.

“This is not the first shock this year,” said Thamindri De Silva of World Vision Afghanistan. “We’re dealing with drought, malnutrition, refugees coming back from Pakistan and Iran. It’s one crisis after another. We’re running out of resources.”

So far, only a handful of countries have stepped up:

• UAE sent food, tents, and a rescue team.
• India delivered 1,000 tents and 15 tons of food.
• UK pledged £1 million ($1.3 million) for emergency relief.
• EU offered €1 million and 130 tons of supplies.
• China and Pakistan say more help is on the way.

The US expressed condolences but hasn’t yet announced aid. That silence is loud in a country where American funding once made up nearly half of all humanitarian support.

Afghanistan’s geography makes it especially quake-prone — the Hindu Kush mountains sit on the collision zone between the Indian and Eurasian plates. Since 1950, the region has recorded 71 quakes of magnitude 6 or larger, including six at 7.0 or above.

But it’s not just the ground shaking that makes the toll so high. Most Afghan homes are made of mud bricks and wood. When walls crumble, the heavy roofs collapse on sleeping families.

“This hit when people were fast asleep in houses that simply couldn’t withstand it,” said Save the Children Afghanistan’s Samira Sayed Rahman.

The Taliban government, recognized only by Russia, is urging international help. But donor countries face a dilemma: how to get aid to desperate civilians without legitimizing a regime that bans girls from schools and bars women from most jobs.

For now, the survivors in Kunar, Nangarhar, and beyond are digging through rubble, burying their dead, and waiting for help that may not come soon enough.

As Indrika Ratwatte, the UN’s humanitarian coordinator in Kabul, put it bluntly:

“These are life-and-death decisions. And time is running out.”

ABC News, CNN, the Associated Press, the Washington Post, NBC News, and Al Jazeera contributed to this report.