Afghanistan earthquake live: Search for survivors on after 900 killed
- A desperate search for survivors is on after a powerful earthquake killed at least 900 people and wounded nearly 3,000 others in eastern Afghanistan.
- Several villages in the impoverished country’s Kunar province have been wiped off the map after the magnitude 6.0 quake, with its epicentre some 27km (17 miles) northeast of Jalalabad in Nangarhar province, struck at about midnight on Sunday.
- 1m ago(07:15 GMT)
Complicating aid: Who recognises the Taliban government?
One of the challenges Afghanistan faces, as its Taliban rulers seek international aid, is that hardly any other country recognises the group’s rule formally — even though many have tried to strengthen ties with them.
Officially, only Russia recognises the Taliban government. China has recognised the Taliban’s ambassador in Beijing but not the government in Kabul.
In several other countries, including India, the United Kingdom and Norway, the embassies run by diplomats appointed by the ousted government of former President Ashraf Ghani have shut down. In more than three dozen countries, the Taliban now officially control local embassies. And at least 17 countries — from India to Indonesia, Turkiye to Turkmenistan — have currently functioning embassies in Kabul.
But because they don’t recognise the Taliban government as the legitimate rulers of Afghanistan, it is harder for these governments to hand over aid supplies to the Taliban, even as thousands of victims of the earthquakes desperately wait for help.
- 16m ago(07:00 GMT)
An impoverished country in urgent need of foreign aid
After decades of conflict, Afghanistan is one of the poorest countries in the world, facing a protracted humanitarian crisis and the influx of millions of Afghans forced back to the country by neighbours Pakistan and Iran in recent years.
Since the Taliban seized power in 2021, foreign aid to the country has been slashed, undermining the impoverished nation’s already hamstrung ability to respond to disasters.
The United States was the largest aid donor until early 2025, when all but a sliver of funds was cancelled after President Donald Trump took office.
In June, the United Nations said it was drastically scaling back its global humanitarian aid plans due to the “deepest funding cuts ever”.
On Monday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a statement that the organisation was working with authorities to “swiftly assess needs, provide emergency assistance and stand ready to mobilise additional support”, while announcing an initial $5m in aid.
- 19m ago(06:57 GMT)
Death toll rises to 900, government spokesman says
Spokesman for Afghanistan’s National Disaster Management Authority has told the Associated Press the death toll has risen to 900, with 3,000 others injured.
“The injured are being evacuated, so these figures may change significantly,” Yousaf Hammad said.
“The earthquake caused landslides in some areas, blocking roads, but they have been reopened, and the remaining roads will be reopened to allow access to areas that were difficult to reach.”
- 31m ago(06:45 GMT)
A timeline of Afghanistan’s deadliest earthquakes since 2015
Here is a list of all the earthquakes that have occurred in Afghanistan before Sunday over a period of 10 years:
October, 2023: Three earthquakes rocked Herat province in October 2023, in one of the country’s deadliest natural disasters in years. According to the British Red Cross Society, at least 2,445 people were killed in these earthquakes.
March 21, 2023: A magnitude 6.5 earthquake struck the northeastern province of Badakhshan, near the border with Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. At least 13 people were killed.
September 2022: Two earthquakes – magnitude 5.1 and magnitude 4.6 – hit the neighbouring provinces of Kunar and Nangarhar in northeastern Afghanistan. At least eight people were reported killed.
June 22, 2022: A magnitude 6.1 earthquake hit eastern Afghanistan’s provinces of Paktika, Paktia, Khost, and Nangarhar. The disaster killed more than 1,000 people as several homes collapsed.
January 17, 2022: According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), a magnitude 5.3 shallow earthquake struck in Qadis district of Badghis province in western Afghanistan. At least 26 people were killed.
October 26, 2015: A magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck near the Hindu Kush region in northeastern Afghanistan. According to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), 117 people were killed. The IFRC reported, citing Pakistan’s National Disaster Management Authority, that 272 people were killed while tremors were felt in many other countries.
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