Afghanistan earthquake death toll exceeds 1,400

Strong aftershocks to a powerful earthquake that killed more than 1,400 people at the weekend rattled eastern Afghanistan on Tuesday as survivors in remote hard-hit villages prepared for another night without shelter.

Temporary shelters had not yet reached the Mazar Dara area of Kunar province, an AFP journalist said, with roads still blocked to the remote, mountainous region bordering Pakistan where the worst of the earthquake was felt.

"There is no food... there is nothing, everything has been buried in the rubble," Nurgal district official Ijaz Ulhaq Yaad told AFP.

Residents, including elderly people and children were "in the open air" with little to protect them from wet weather, he said, adding that "we still feel strong aftershocks."

One of deadliest earthquakes in Afghanistan

A 5.2-magnitude earthquake hit the region near the epicentre of the magnitude 6.0 earthquake that hit late Sunday night – one of at least six aftershocks recorded by the US Geological Survey.

The number of victims from Sunday's earthquake has mounted steadily, with 1,411 people dead and 3,124 injured in Kunar alone, chief Taliban government spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said on Tuesday, September 2, 2025.

The Sunday earthquake is one of the deadliest to hit the country in decades.

Another dozen people were killed and hundreds injured in neighbouring Nangarhar province.