Devastating earthquake in Afghanistan: About 800 dead, more than 2.800 injured

More than 800 people died, and more than 2.800 were injured earthquake magnitude 6 on the Richter scale that hit the eastern part last night Afghanistan, officials of that country announced.

The epicenter of the earthquake was not far from the city of Jalalabad, near the border with Pakistan and at a depth of 10 kilometers.

Health authorities in Kabul, the Afghan capital, said rescuers were rushing to reach remote villages in a region with a long history of earthquakes and floods.

"Dozens of houses under ruins"

Multiple Taliban government sources told the BBC that "dozens of houses are under rubble" and that hundreds of people are now feared dead and injured in the earthquake.

The provincial hospital in Asadabad, the capital of Kunar province, says they receive "one patient every five minutes" and that the entire hospital is full of injured people.

A massive rescue operation has been launched, but as the region is difficult to access, any rescue operations will be slow.

The epicenter of the earthquake that hit Afghanistan last night not far from the city of Jalalabad near the border with Pakistan was at a depth of ten kilometers.

The spokesman of the Ministry of Health in Kabul, Sharafat Zaman, appealed for international help to alleviate the consequences of the destruction.

Army rescue teams were sent to the region to transport 40 wounded and dead with 420 flights, the Ministry of Defense reported.

It is the third major and deadly earthquake in Afghanistan since 2021, when the Taliban took over and foreign powers withdrew from the country.

Source: Phonet