Every minute passing, the dead who are recovered from the ruins left behind by earthquake of 6 Richter in Afghanistanincreases. According to the new report, the victims are 622 and the injured have exceeded 1,500.
The earthquake “hit” on Sunday night (30.08.2025) at 23:47 local time, with a small focal depth of 8 kilometers, and focusing 42 kilometers from Jalalamband, in Afghanistan, according to the USGS Institute of Geological Survey.
Sharafat Zaman, the Afghan spokesman for the Ministry of Health, said: “Rescue operations are still under way and many villages have been completely destroyed.”
“The numbers for the witnesses and the injured are changing. Medical groups from Kunar, Nangarhar and the capital Kabul have reached the area, “he said, adding that many areas were unable to report details of the victims and that” numbers are likely to change “as deaths and injuries report.
The Kunar Disaster Management Authority said in a statement that the wounds are hit by residents in the areas of Nour Gul, Shaki, Watpur, Mongy and Tsapandar.
The Afghan Ministry of Defense transported airline 30 doctors and 800kg of drugs to Kunar to support local hospitals flooded with injured, according to the Bakhtar state -run news agency in Afghanistan.
The Afghan Red Crescent said its officials and medical groups “rushed to the affected areas” of the earthquake and “provide urgent help to families”.
Muftis Abdul Matin, a spokesman for the interior ministry, says at least 610 people were killed in Kunar province and 12 in Nangarhar province.
“In Kunar province, 610 people have died, 1,300 have been injured and many homes have been destroyed. Similarly, in the Nangarhar province, 12 people have died, 255 have been injured and dozens of homes have been damaged, “the statement said.
“The necessary instructions have been issued to local officials of the respective provinces … to reach the affected areas immediately, provide timely assistance and take strict, integrated measures,” he added.
“As a result, all our teams dealing with safety, services, health, transport, food and relative groups have accelerated their efforts to ensure complete and complete help to affected citizens,” he concluded.
Taliban leader Moula Nurundin Turab, head of the Ministry of National Disaster Management, also arrived in Kunar to oversee crisis efforts, Bahtar said.
However, the Health Authorities in Kabul, led by the Taliban, confirm the official number of victims as they try to reach remote areas, in the hope of finding survivors.
Pictures from Reuters Television showed helicopters to go to the affected areas, while residents helped soldiers and doctors carrying injured to ambulances.
Three villages were leveled in Kunar province, and serious damage has been done to many others, the Ministry of Health added.
Najibulah Hanif, a province official, said there were reports of 250 dead and 500 injured, adding that these numbers may increase.
A 6.0-magnitude earthquake struck Afghanistan’s Kunar province in the early hours of September 1, leaving around 500 dead and 1,000 injured. pic.twitter.com/nb85DlCfFz
Rescuers are looking for survivors in the debris in the province of Heiber Pachthva, on the border with Pakistan, where houses made of mud and stones collapsed due to the earthquake.
The number of dead is likely to rise
It is a remote, mountainous area. The villages are scattered throughout the area and some of them are only accessible by helicopter.
What we have discovered is that locals dig out people from the ruins.
The number of dead is likely to increase because reports are still reaching from more remote areas, so the full scale of damage will become apparent in the coming hours.
But it is important to note that the death toll is likely to increase, as it was a superficial earthquake, which is usually very destructive.
‘Initial estimates fivefold’
Professor of Geology and OASP President Efthimios Lekkas spoke about the strong magnitude earthquake.
“It is a number that, on the one hand, had a large size of six degrees, on the other hand, it was in a small depth of 8 kilometers, in an area that is sparsely populated, but has quite large housing units, which are particularly vulnerable,” he initially emphasized.
He added that, “their buildings are in not so good condition and also in the development of disasters and damage plays an important role in the relief in the areas, which enhances seismic actions. So the danger is high, the vulnerability of the systems is high, so we see these results. “
As Efthymios Lekkas said of the dead, “unfortunately, initial estimates are essentially fivefold, according to the historical data we have and we are processing. So it is clear that they are only 500 victims so far, but I think it will be much more. “
At least 250 dead, 500 injured in Afghanistan earthquake. 6.0 magnitude tremor hits Kunar Nurgal, Chowki, Watpur, Manogi & Chapa Dara affected. Landslides block roads; rescue teams and aerial support deployed.#Afghanistan #AfghanistanEarthquake #Kin pic.twitter.com/PJvzGEdydR
— The Pakistan (@thepakistan2021) September 1, 2025
The earthquake, which occurred overnight, was very strong, and five aftershocks have already been recorded, one of which was 5.2 points.
AFP journalists felt vibrations in Kabul, as well as in Islamabad, Pakistan, 370 kilometers from the focus.
In the meantime, Nangarhar had been hit last week by sudden floods that cost five people and caused material damage to rural and residential areas.
Afghanistan is often affected by strong earthquakes, especially in the Hido Cous Mountains area where the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plate intersect.
A series of seismic vibrations in the western part of the country claimed the lives of more 1,000 people in 2024. The country, one of the poorest in the world, remains extremely vulnerable to natural disasters.