In the dead of night on Sunday, August 31, 2025, a magnitude 6.0 earthquake struck eastern Afghanistan, unleashing devastation across the rugged, mountainous province of Kunar near the Pakistan border. According to the Afghan Red Crescent Society, over 1,100 people have been confirmed dead and at least 3,250 others injured, with the toll expected to rise as rescue operations continue in areas that are difficult to access. The quake’s epicenter was reported near Jalalabad in Nangarhar province, about 17 miles east-northeast of the city, at a shallow depth of just five miles—a factor that likely amplified the destruction.
Entire villages in Kunar were wiped off the map, and the scale of loss is still coming into focus. As reported by Sky News, Sharafat Zaman, spokesperson for Afghanistan’s Ministry of Public Health, emphasized the evolving nature of the crisis: “Rescue operations are still underway there, and several villages have been completely destroyed. The figures for martyrs and injured are changing. Medical teams from Kunar, Nangarhar and the capital Kabul have arrived in the area.” Zaman warned that many affected areas have yet to submit casualty figures, so “numbers were expected to change” as more information emerges.
The quake struck just before midnight, followed by a 4.5-magnitude aftershock about 20 minutes later and a subsequent 5.2-magnitude tremor. The region’s difficult terrain and poor infrastructure have hampered rescue efforts. Roads are blocked or damaged, forcing aid workers to trek for hours on foot to reach survivors. Helicopters have been deployed to evacuate the injured, and Taliban soldiers have been sent to provide help and security, according to government statements.
Video footage shared by Los Angeles Times and other outlets showed desperate Afghans digging through the rubble with their bare hands, searching for missing loved ones. In Nurgal district, one of the worst-hit areas, a resident pleaded, “Children are under the rubble. The elderly are under the rubble. Young people are under the rubble. We need help here. We need people to come here and join us. Let us pull out the people who are buried. There is no one who can come and remove dead bodies from under the rubble.”
Survivors recounted harrowing escapes. Sadiqullah, a resident of Mazar Dara in Nurgal, described being awakened by what sounded like a storm. He managed to rescue three of his children before the house collapsed, trapping him. “I was half-buried and unable to get out,” he told reporters from his hospital bed in Nangarhar. “My wife and two sons are dead, and my father is injured and in hospital with me. We were trapped for three to four hours until people from other areas arrived and pulled me out.” He added, “It felt like the whole mountain was shaking.”
The destruction was compounded by the construction of homes in rural Afghanistan, which are often made of mud bricks and wood—materials that stand little chance against a powerful earthquake. Many buildings in the region are low-rise and poorly built, making them especially vulnerable. The Kunar Disaster Management Authority reported deaths and injuries in the districts of Nur Gul, Soki, Watpur, Manogi, and Chapadare.
The World Health Organization warned that damaged roads, aftershocks, and the remoteness of many villages have severely impeded the delivery of aid. “The pre-earthquake fragility of the health system means local capacity is overwhelmed, creating total dependence on external actors,” the agency said. Over 12,000 people have been affected, and thousands of children are now at risk in the aftermath, according to UNICEF. The organization has rushed medicines, warm clothing, tents, tarpaulins, and hygiene items to the region.
Efforts to prevent further disaster are underway as well. UN officials noted that authorities are working to quickly dispose of animal carcasses to minimize the risk of water contamination. Meanwhile, the Afghan Red Crescent reported that its teams “rushed to the affected areas and are currently providing emergency assistance to impacted families.”
But the earthquake did not strike a country prepared to absorb such a blow. Afghanistan is one of the world’s poorest nations, battered by decades of conflict and a string of natural disasters. The country’s vulnerability has only deepened in recent years. Since the Taliban takeover in 2021, international aid—which once formed the backbone of government finances—has been dramatically reduced. Humanitarian aid, intended to bypass political obstacles and meet urgent needs, has shrunk from $3.8 billion in 2022 to just $767 million this year, according to Reuters and cited by Sky News.
Filippo Grandi, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, called the situation a “perfect storm” of crises. “We have very little information as of yet, but already, reports of hundreds of people killed and many more made homeless,” he said. Afghanistan is grappling with a “big drought,” while Iran has “sent back almost 2 million people” and Pakistan “threatens to do the same.” Grandi added, “It’s extremely difficult to mobilize resources because of the Taliban. So it’s a perfect storm. And this earthquake, likely to have been quite devastating, is going to just add to the misery.” He appealed to the international community: “All those who can help, please do that.”
Diplomats and aid officials have pointed to a combination of donor fatigue, crises elsewhere, and frustration with the Taliban’s policies—especially regarding women’s rights—as reasons for the funding cuts. Oxfam’s chief executive, Halima Begum, told Sky News: “Emergency relief in Afghanistan, either over the long term or even during this emergency, is a really difficult process because women’s rights are not upheld very well in this country.” She added that Oxfam had to pull out “for reasons to do with operational difficulty,” but is now working through partner agencies to get support to the hardest-hit and most remote regions.
International support has begun to trickle in. The UK has allocated funds to support the UN and International Red Cross in delivering critical healthcare and emergency supplies. China has declared its readiness to provide disaster relief, while India has delivered 1,000 family tents to Kabul and is moving 15 tonnes of food supplies to Kunar. “So far, no foreign governments have reached out to provide support for rescue or relief work,” a spokesperson for Afghanistan’s foreign office noted, though the UN mission is preparing to help those in devastated areas, as Secretary General Antonio Guterres confirmed in a post on X.
The earthquake is the latest in a series of natural disasters to strike Afghanistan. In October 2023, a magnitude 6.3 earthquake and strong aftershocks killed at least 1,500 people, with the Taliban government claiming the toll was closer to 4,000. Many villages are still recovering from those earlier catastrophes, with families living in temporary shelters as new tragedies unfold.
For Afghans, the earthquake is not just another disaster—it is a blow that lands atop years of hardship, compounding a humanitarian crisis that has already pushed more than half the country’s population into urgent need. As the dust settles and the true scale of the tragedy becomes clear, survivors and aid workers alike are left grappling with the enormous challenge of recovery amid dwindling resources and fading international attention.