Afghanistan Earthquake Devastates Villages, Claims Over 800 Lives

Published: 1 September 2025. The English Chronicle Desk

Eastern Afghanistan has been left reeling after a powerful earthquake measuring 6.0 on the Richter scale struck late on Sunday night, killing at least 800 people and injuring more than 2,800 others. The tremor, which hit Kunar province at 11:47pm local time (8:17pm GMT), caused widespread destruction across villages, toppled homes and shook buildings as far away as Kabul and even Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad.

The US Geological Survey reported that the quake was shallow, occurring at a depth of only eight miles, making it particularly destructive. Its epicentre was located just 17 miles from Jalalabad in Nangarhar province. The initial jolt was followed by multiple aftershocks, including one measuring 4.5 and another registering 5.2 on the Richter scale, both contributing to the chaos and destruction.

Entire villages in Kunar have been reduced to rubble. Witnesses described scenes of desperation as men, women, and children scrambled to dig through debris with bare hands in the hope of finding survivors. “Children are under the rubble. The elderly are under the rubble. Young people are under the rubble,” one villager told the Associated Press, appealing desperately for outside help.

The Taliban-run interior ministry confirmed that the majority of deaths have been reported in Kunar province, with additional fatalities in Nangarhar. Many of the injured have been airlifted by helicopters to hospitals in Jalalabad and Kabul, where harrowing images show victims on stretchers being rushed into overcrowded wards. Doctors say resources are already stretched thin and the scale of injuries is overwhelming.

International aid agencies have begun mobilising. The United Nations expressed solidarity with Afghanistan, with Secretary General António Guterres stating: “I stand in full solidarity with the people of Afghanistan after the devastating earthquake that hit the country earlier today.” UN teams on the ground have been distributing emergency assistance and lifesaving supplies, but officials warn that access to remote villages remains extremely difficult due to poor infrastructure and ongoing security challenges.

The disaster could not have struck at a worse time for Afghanistan. The country is already grappling with severe drought, widespread poverty, and a deepening humanitarian crisis worsened by political isolation since the Taliban takeover in 2021. Filippo Grandi, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, described the quake as a “perfect storm,” adding: “That’s a country already suffering from a multiplicity of crises. And this earthquake, likely to have been quite devastating, is only going to add to the misery.”

Oxfam’s chief executive, Hamila Begun, echoed concerns about the challenges of delivering aid in Taliban-controlled territory, particularly due to restrictions on women’s rights. She noted that humanitarian organisations have had to scale back operations because of “operational difficulties,” warning that this has left local communities even more vulnerable in the face of natural disasters.

For many Afghans, this catastrophe revives the painful memory of the October 2023 earthquake that killed thousands and was regarded as one of the country’s deadliest natural disasters in decades. Survivors of the latest tremor fear history is repeating itself, with families once again left homeless, grieving, and uncertain about what the future holds.

Rescue operations remain ongoing, but officials warn that the death toll could rise further as many remain trapped beneath collapsed buildings. The need for urgent medical aid, food supplies, shelter, and international support is becoming ever more pressing. With villages wiped out and the fragile Afghan healthcare system overwhelmed, this latest tragedy underscores once again the vulnerability of the country, situated at the meeting point of the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates, where deadly earthquakes are an ever-present threat.

As Afghanistan struggles to recover, the world watches anxiously to see whether sufficient relief can reach those most in need. For now, grief hangs heavy over the eastern provinces, where hundreds of families mourn their loved ones lost beneath the rubble of homes that crumbled in seconds.