Search for survivors continues as Afghanistan earthquake toll rises to more than 900

Rescuers desperately searched Tuesday for survivors in the rubble of homes flattened by an earthquake that struck eastern Afghanistan, killing more than 900 people.

The 6.0-magnitude earthquake, followed by at least five aftershocks, hit remote areas in mountainous provinces near the border with Pakistan around midnight Sunday.

The head of the Kunar Provincial Disaster Management Authority, Ehsanullah Ehsan, said that "operations continued throughout the night". He said there were "still injured people left in the distant villages" in need of evacuation to hospitals.

Villagers joined the rescue efforts, using their bare hands to clear debris of simple mud and stone homes built into steep valleys.

Obaidullah Stoman, 26, who travelled to the village of Wadir to search for a friend, was overwhelmed by the level of destruction.

"I'm searching here, but I didn't see him. It was very difficult for me to see the conditions here," he said. "There is only rubble left."

The dead, including children, were wrapped in white shrouds by villagers who prayed over their bodies before burying them.

Emergency assistance

Some of the hardest-hit villages remain inaccessible due to blocked roads, the UN migration agency said.

The earthquake epicentre was about 27 kilometres (17 miles) from Jalalabad, according to the USGS, which said it struck at a shallow eight kilometres below the Earth's surface.

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 US withdrawal in 2021, foreign aid to the country has been slashed, undermining the impoverished nation's already hamstrung ability to respond to disasters.