LONDON — A 6.0 magnitude earthquake struck japanese Afghanistan on Sunday, destroying a number of villages and killing a whole lot, in response to an area official and the United Nations mission.
Greater than 600 folks have been killed and greater than 1,300 have been injured within the Kunar province, Mufti Abdul Matin Qani, spokesperson for the Ministry of Inside, informed Afghan media early on Monday. One other dozen folks have been killed within the Nangarhar province, he mentioned.
The United Nations mission in Afghanistan mentioned in a press release its staffers have been “deeply saddened” by the “devastating” quake, which “claimed a whole lot of lives, injuring many extra.”
The highly effective earthquake struck about 17 miles east of Jalalabad, close to the border with Pakistan simply earlier than midnight, in response to preliminary knowledge from the U.S. Geological Survey.
Afghan injured kids obtain remedy at a hospital after an earthquake in Afghanistan’s Jalalabad on September 1, 2025.
Aimal Zahir/AFP through Getty Pictures
The Afghan well being minister mentioned that a number of villages within the Nurgal district of Kunar — together with Sholt, Arit, Mamagal, Wadir and others — had been all however destroyed. Others suffered important injury, the minister mentioned.
A number of the injured had been evacuated and rescue efforts have been ongoing, the ministry mentioned.
“Sadly, tonight’s earthquake has brought about lack of life and property injury in a few of our japanese provinces,” Zabihullah Mujahid, a authorities spokesperson, mentioned in a publish on social media.
Individuals carry an earthquake sufferer on a stretcher to an ambulance at an airport in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, Sept. 1, 2025.
Stringer/Reuters
Mujahid mentioned assist groups from close by provinces had been dispatched to the realm.
The Ministry of Protection mentioned a 10-member crew flew some 40 flights out of the realm, carrying 420 folks to hospitals, together with the Daoud Khan Navy Hospital. The Nationwide Catastrophe Administration Authority mentioned a convoy carrying response groups was en path to the affected areas in Kunar.
The U.N. Workplace for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Afghanistan started coordinating with different worldwide companies after the quake, saying its “companions are on the bottom initiating quick reduction efforts.”
On this picture launched by the Nangarhar Media Heart, stretchers and ambulances are ready to obtain victims of an earthquake that killed a whole lot and destroyed quite a few villages in japanese Afghanistan, at Nangarhar Airport in Nangarhar, Afghanistan, Monday, Sept. 1, 2025.
AP
The U.N. would “spare no effort to help these in want within the affected areas,” Secretary-Basic Antonio Guterres mentioned.
“I stand in full solidarity with the folks of Afghanistan after the devastating earthquake that hit the nation earlier as we speak,” he mentioned on social media. “I lengthen my deepest condolences to the households of the victims and need a speedy restoration to these injured.”
ABC Information’ Will Gretsky and Jessica Gorman contributed to this report.
