Afghanistan Earthquake Kills Hundreds Amid Aid Struggles and Christian Minority Concerns

by Stefan J. Bos, Worthy News Chief International Correspondent

KABUL (Worthy News) – Authorities in Afghanistan say a powerful earthquake has devastated the east of the country near the Pakistan border, killing more than 800 people and injuring over 2,500, as concerns grow about restricted access for international aid and the plight of the country’s tiny Christian minority.

The 6.0-magnitude quake struck the strict Islamic nation late Sunday local time in Kunar province near the city of Jalalabad, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Entire villages of mud-brick and stone houses collapsed, and landslides blocked critical access routes.

A resident in Nurgal district, one of the worst-affected areas in Kunar province, said almost the entire village had collapsed. “Children are under the rubble. The elderly are under the rubble. Young people are under the rubble,” said the villager.

“We need help here,” he pleaded. “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.”

The ruling Taliban group said the death toll has now risen to over 800, with about 2,500 injured—a significant increase from figures earlier in the day.

The United Nations mission in Afghanistan confirmed Monday the quake had “claimed hundreds of lives, injuring many more,” adding that they are “delivering emergency assistance and life-saving support.”

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he stands in “full solidarity with the people of Afghanistan after the devastating earthquake that hit the country earlier today.” Guterres also extended his “deepest condolences to the families of the victims” and wished a “speedy recovery to those injured.”

TEAMS MOBILIZED

As the extent of the tragedy became clear, Afghanistan’s Ministry of Interior announced Monday: “All our … teams have been mobilised to accelerate assistance, so that comprehensive and full support can be provided.”

However, “Time is of the essence,” cautioned Thamindri de Silva, national director of Christian aid group World Vision Afghanistan.

She explained that while the full scale of destruction is still hard to gauge due to the remoteness of many affected areas, the Mazar Valley in Nurgal district of Kunar province “seems to be the epicentre with one village completely destroyed.”

“This is one of the most remote and also one of the poorest parts of Afghanistan,” she added, noting the area has minimal infrastructure, minimal road access, and no health facilities or schools. “The houses are basically built with mud and very little reinforcement.”

Due to the fragile infrastructure, De Silva said, an earthquake causes buildings to “very easily collapse,” meaning “a lot of people will be buried.”

However, ministry spokesman Mohammad Ashraf Haqshenas said numerous roads within Kunar are still inaccessible as first responders rush to clear them of rubble. Authorities said scores of helicopter flights have been carried out to transport hundreds of injured people to hospitals in the region. Video footage and photos obtained by Worthy News showed villagers desperately trying to rush wounded people to a helicopter. Numerous homes appeared to have been destroyed.

The Afghan Red Crescent Society stressed Monday that the disaster had “caused both human casualties and significant financial losses to local communities.” The aid group added that landslides were hampering rescue efforts, despite helicopters being deployed to remote areas.

EMERGENCY TEAMS

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) confirmed Monday it supported the Afghan Red Crescent’s response, with emergency teams and ambulances actively deployed.

Yet while officials avoided criticizing Afghanistan’s rulers directly, international aid groups face significant hurdles. Taliban-imposed restrictions on non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and ongoing sanctions impede outside assistance, exacerbating the crisis, Worthy News learned.

Concerns are especially acute for Afghanistan’s tiny Christian minority, estimated in the low thousands. Most believers are converts from Islam, and under Taliban rule, conversion can be punishable by death.

In a crisis where aid distribution is strictly controlled, Christians face heightened risks of exclusion—or worse—if their faith is discovered, according to several sources familiar with the situation.

Advocacy group Open Doors, in its 2025 World Watch List, already ranked Afghanistan among the most dangerous countries in the world to follow Christ, warning that believers must live in secrecy and face systematic exclusion from aid.

As aftershocks continued on Monday, survivors dug through rubble with their bare hands. Relief agencies appealed for unimpeded access to ensure food, water, and medical care reach those most in need.

QUAKE COUNTRY

Experts say Afghanistan is prone to deadly earthquakes, particularly in the Hindu Kush mountain range, where the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates meet.

In 2023, more than 2,000 people were killed when a magnitude 6.3 earthquake struck the western province of Herat.

The previous year, a powerful earthquake in eastern Afghanistan killed at least 1,000 people and injured about 1,500, officials said.

In 2015, a quake in the northeast killed more than 200 people in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Years earlier, in 2002, a magnitude 6.1 earthquake killed about 1,000 people in the north. In 1998, a magnitude 6.1 quake and subsequent tremors in the remote northeast killed at least 4,500, according to official data.

The latest quake added to concerns in the already volatile nation. The Taliban, which imposes a strict form of Islam, took over Afghanistan on August 15, 2021, after the chaotic and deadly withdrawal by U.S. forces.

President Ashraf Ghani fled into exile, and the U.S.-backed Afghan government collapsed. Within hours, the Taliban declared the restoration of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, the same name they used during their previous rule from 1996 to 2001.

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