At least 622 people were killed and more than 1,500 were injured after a powerful earthquake struck eastern Afghanistan, authorities confirmed on Monday, as rescuers scrambled to reach survivors in remote villages.

The 6.0-magnitude quake hit at a depth of 10 kilometers in the eastern provinces bordering Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region. Homes collapsed under the midnight tremor, flattening entire hamlets as helicopters were deployed to ferry the wounded while residents and soldiers worked side by side to carry casualties to ambulances.

In Kunar province, officials reported that three villages were completely razed, with substantial damage across many others.

Humanitarian crisis worsens

The Interior Ministry placed the nationwide toll at over 800 dead and over 2,500 injured, surpassing earlier state media figures of about 500 deaths. 

"So far, no foreign governments have reached out to provide support for rescue or relief work," a foreign office spokesperson said, highlighting the strain on a country already grappling with sharp aid cuts and mass deportations of Afghan refugees from neighboring states.

Afghanistan sits on a major fault line where the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates collide, making it highly prone to earthquakes. A series of tremors in the west of the country killed more than 1,000 people last year.

Country grapples with sanctions

In light of the devastating humanitarian crisis, Afghanistan has, since the US withdrawal in 2021, been largely cut off from international banking networks due to sanctions imposed on Taliban officials and entities. Billions in Western aid were halted, and humanitarian funds have drastically declined since early 2024.

Despite it all, Afghanistan is attempting to rebuild itself under the Taliban, who are seeking diplomacy as a method of eradicating all the issues the nation is now experiencing, from poverty and malnutrition to unemployment.