Over 600 Killed, 1,500 Injured After 6.0 Magnitude Earthquake Strikes Afghanistan

Last Updated:September 01, 2025, 13:26 IST

A powerful earthquake hit south-eastern Afghanistan, killing at least 610 and injuring over 1,300. Kunar’s Nurgal, Chawkay and Watapur were worst hit, with three villages razed.

Taliban soldiers and civilians carry earthquake victims to an ambulance at an airport in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, September 1, 2025. REUTERS/Stringer

At least 622 people were killed and more than 1,500 injured after a powerful earthquake struck south-eastern Afghanistan on Monday, the country’s interior ministry spokesman told AFP on Monday.

In the earthquake that struck just before midnight on Sunday, “610 people were killed and 1,300 were injured in Kunar province, with numerous houses destroyed", spokesman Abdul Mateen Qani said, adding that in Nangarhar province, 12 people were killed and another 255 were injured.

Three villages were razed in the province of Kunar. Nurgal, Chawkay and Watapur were the districts of Kunar worst hit by the quake, Bakhtar reported.

Rescue operations are underway to find missing people under the destruction and rubble caused by the strong tremors.

“The number of casualties and injuries is high, but since the area is difficult to access, our teams are still on site," health ministry spokesperson Sharafat Zaman said in a statement.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar expressed deep concern over the devastating earthquake in Afghanistan’s Kunar province, extending India’s solidarity and support to the Afghan people in this time of crisis.

“The devastating earthquake in Kunar Province of Afghanistan is a matter of deep concern. Express our support and solidarity to the Afghan people as they respond to it. India will extend assistance in this hour of need. Our condolences to the families of the victims. And our prayers for the early recovery of the injured," he wrote on X.

According to the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ), the quake was at a depth of 10 km (6.21 miles).

The quake’s epicentre was 36 kilometres (22 miles) north of Basawul, Afghanistan, and it had a depth of 10 kilometres (6.2 miles), the U.S. Geological Survey said. It struck at 11:47 pm local time Sunday.

The quake shook buildings from Kabul to Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad, approximately 370 kilometres away, for several seconds, AFP journalists reported.

Earlier, a magnitude 6.3 earthquake struck Afghanistan on October 7, 2023, along with strong aftershocks. The Taliban government estimated that at least 4,000 perished. The UN provided a significantly lower figure of approximately 1,500. It was the deadliest natural disaster to strike Afghanistan in recent memory.

Afghanistan is prone to deadly earthquakes, particularly in the Hindu Kush mountain range, where the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates meet.

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