KABUL/NURGAL: Rescue workers and volunteers in eastern Afghanistan are still pulling bodies from the rubble days after powerful earthquakes devastated mountainous provinces bordering Pakistan, with Taliban authorities reporting the death toll has surpassed 1,457 and could rise further. More than 3,700 people have been injured and over 6,700 homes destroyed.
The first quake, measuring 6.0 in magnitude, struck on Sunday at a shallow depth of 10 km, making it one of the deadliest in decades. A second tremor of 5.5 magnitude on Tuesday triggered landslides, blocking access to remote villages in Kunar and Nangarhar provinces and complicating rescue efforts. Entire households were wiped out in some areas, and survivors have been left to sift through rubble with pickaxes and carry bodies on woven stretchers.
“Everything we had has been destroyed,” said Aalem Jan, a survivor from Kunar. “Our house collapsed, and all our belongings and possessions were lost. The only remaining things are these clothes on our backs.”
While most cut-off villages have now been reached, hopes of finding survivors are fading quickly. “Many survivors are still believed to be trapped beneath collapsed homes, and the window for finding them alive is rapidly closing,” the World Health Organization (WHO) warned.
Aid Shortfalls
Relief efforts face steep challenges. Rockfalls and poor infrastructure have slowed aid deliveries, while decades of war, poverty, and shrinking foreign assistance have left Afghanistan ill-prepared for large-scale disasters. The WHO said local health care services are “under immense strain” and appealed for $4 million to expand emergency operations, while also pointing to a critical funding gap for trauma supplies and medicines.
The UN World Food Programme (WFP) said it has resources to support survivors for just four more weeks, warning of a looming cutoff. Other aid groups stressed the need for long-term donor commitments. “The earthquake should serve as a stark reminder: Afghanistan cannot be left to face one crisis after another alone,” said Jacopo Caridi of the Norwegian Refugee Council.
UN refugee chief Filippo Grandi estimated more than 500,000 people have been affected, with thousands displaced. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) said humanitarian needs are “vast and growing rapidly.”
Meanwhile, Afghanistan faces overlapping crises: endemic poverty, severe drought, and the forced return of millions of Afghans from Pakistan and Iran since the Taliban’s 2021 takeover. Despite the disaster, Pakistan has resumed its push to expel Afghan migrants, with more than 6,300 crossing back into quake-hit Nangarhar province on Tuesday alone.
“Every hour counts,” said WHO emergency lead Jamshed Tanoli. “Hospitals are struggling, families are grieving, and survivors have lost everything.”
