Afghanistan earthquake death toll soars over 1,400 as rescuers in Kunar province struggle to reach survivors

The death toll from a major earthquake that rocked eastern Afghanistan on Sunday night has climbed to at least 1,411, the ruling Taliban‘s chief spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said Tuesday, as rescue operations, hampered by rough terrain, continued across the affected region. At least 3,124 people were injured and 5,412 houses were destroyed, Mujahid said.

“The destruction is overwhelming. Entire villages have been flattened, and people are still trapped under the rubble of collapsed homes. Roads are blocked, making it nearly impossible to move supplies or evacuate the wounded,” Dr. Abudl Majeed Ahmadzai, Director of the Kabul Asia Hospital, who travelled to the affected region, told CBS News.

In the hard-hit Kunar and Nangarhar provinces, the earthquake trapped people under rubble when homes, which are largely made of wood and mud in the region, collapsed onto them as they slept.

Ahmadzai said the injured were being carried on foot for hours, sometimes on makeshift stretchers, just to reach basic help.

“The situation is desperate. Food is scarce, medical help is insufficient, and the only effective way to deliver assistance is by helicopter. Without air support, reaching these communities is nearly impossible,” Ahamdzai told CBS News.

In locations where helicopters could not land, Taliban deputy spokesperson Hamdullah Fitrat said “dozens of commando forces were air dropped to pull the injured from the rubble and move them to safer ground.”

Fitrat said a camp had been established in Kunar’s Khas Kunar district, as well as two coordination sites near the disaster zones, to help coordinate emergency aid and assist with the rescue operation, transfer of the injured, and burial of the dead.

The United Nations urged the international community to step forward to help.

“We cannot afford to forget the people of Afghanistan who are facing multiple crises, multiple shocks, and the resilience of the communities has been saturated,” the U.N.’s resident coordinator for Afghanistan, Indrika Ratwatte, told The Associate Press. “These are life and death decisions while we race against time to reach people.”

A spokesperson for the health ministry in Kabul, Sharafat Zaman, on Monday called for international aid to help handle the devastation caused by the earthquake.

“We need it because here lots of people lost their lives and houses,” Zaman told the Reuters news agency.

The magnitude 6 earthquake, which struck at about 11:40 p.m. on Sunday, was the third major earthquake to strike Afghanistan since the Taliban seized control of the country in 2021. Their takeover prompted deep cuts in international aid funding as many donors, including the United States, were concerned that financial support could help fund the Taliban government.

Since retaking power, the Taliban have brought back many restrictive policies, especially targeting women and girls, including excluding them from secondary education and most career choices.

The policies have marginalized women and made it much more difficult for them to access basic services, including health care. With women now prevented from working in many health care roles, there’s concern that some earthquake victims may be reluctant to seek medical assistance.