Tragic Earthquake in Afghanistan: More Than 800 Lives Lost Following 6.0 Magnitude Quake

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An Australian man has described the “terrifying” moment a deadly earthquake rocked the Afghan city he was travelling in.

Shams Mamond, an Afghan Australian man, was in the city of Jalalabad when a magnitude-6.0 quake struck around midnight local time on Monday, killing more than 800 people and injuring at least 2,800.

It is one of Afghanistan’s worst recorded earthquakes.

Rescuers are battling to reach remote mountainous areas cut off from mobile networks along the Pakistani border, where mudbrick homes dotting the slopes collapsed in the quake.

A man in a car wearing Afghan traditional men's clothing

Shams Mamond, an Afghan Australian, was in Jalalabad city in Nangarhar province when the earthquake struck. Credit: Supplied

Families rushed out of their homes, young and old running together in fear as walls cracked and roofs crumbled. In the chaos, some managed to escape with only minor injuries, but others were not as fortunate.

In one house, the roof collapsed on a man and a woman, claiming their lives instantly.

Across the village, families gathered in open fields, shivering under the night sky, too afraid to return home as aftershocks continued to ripple through the ground.

Mamond, who lives in Newcastle, NSW, said he felt the tremors in Jalalabad city.

“The shaking was very strong and terrifying,” he told SBS Pashto.

“It felt like the whole ground was moving beneath us. People were running out of their homes in panic and many buildings were damaged.”

Mamond said he travelled to nearby Kunar province, one of the worst-affected regions, to help those impacted.

A man in a cream-coloured traditional outfit holding the body of a child wrapped in a white shroud.

The magnitude-6.0 earthquake is one of Afghanistan’s worst. It was just past midnight when the ground shook violently, tearing through the silence of Kunar, a village in Afghanistan on Monday. Source: EPA / Samiullah Popal

“These families are in great need, and I felt it was my responsibility to be here with them during this difficult time.

“This is a huge human disaster.”

He called on Australians and the Australian government to help.

“My humble request from the Australian government is to urgently send humanitarian aid — food, medicine, tents, and other emergency support — for the people of Kunar.

“I hope Australia will also help with long-term recovery, so these families can rebuild their lives with dignity.”

While the UK has announced it will send US$1.35 million ($2.6 million) in assistance — split between the United Nations Population Fund and the International Red Cross — the Australian government has yet to announce any aid.

A mud brick home on a scrubby slope in ruins

At least 800 people have been killed and some 2,000 injured as a result of the earthquake. Source: EPA / Stringer

International community responds

Foreign Minister Penny Wong issued a statement on Tuesday saying the loss of life in the quake was “devastating”.

“Our thoughts are with the Afghan people, as well as the Afghan community in Australia,” she said.

“Australian officials are in contact with the United Nations and other international partners to establish the extent of damage and status of relief efforts.”

China’s foreign ministry said it was ready to provide disaster relief assistance “according to Afghanistan’s needs and within its capacity”, while India said it had delivered 1,000 family tents to Kabul and was moving 15 tonnes of food to Kunar, with more relief material to be sent from India starting on Tuesday.

The US State Department’s Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs posted its condolences on X on Monday for the loss of life in the earthquake, but did not immediately respond when asked if the United States would provide any assistance.

The disaster will further stretch the resources of the war-torn nation’s Taliban administration, already grappling with crises ranging from a sharp drop in foreign aid to deportations of hundreds of thousands of Afghans by neighbouring countries.

Sharafat Zaman, spokesperson for the health ministry in Kabul, called for international aid to tackle the devastation caused by the magnitude 6.0 quake that struck at a depth of 10km.

“We need it because here lots of people lost their lives and houses,” he said.

The quake’s epicentre was 27km away from Jalalabad, Afghanistan’s fifth-largest city in the eastern Nangarhar province.

‘We need urgent help’

Some villagers sat weeping amid the piled ruins of their homes. Others started laboriously clearing the debris by hand, or carried out the injured on makeshift stretchers.

“This is Mazar Dara in Nurgal district. The entire village has been destroyed,” one victim told reporters. “Children and elders are trapped under the rubble. We need urgent help.”

Two people walking in front of a row of ambulances.

Casualties could rise as rescue teams access more isolated locations, authorities said. Source: AP / Nangarhar Media Center

Another survivor said: “We need ambulances, we need doctors, we need everything to rescue the injured and recover the dead.”

It was Afghanistan’s third major deadly quake since the Taliban took over in 2021 as foreign forces withdrew, triggering a cut to the international funding that formed the bulk of the government’s finances.

Diplomats and aid officials say crises elsewhere in the world, along with donor frustration over the Taliban’s policies towards women, including curbs on those who are aid workers, have spurred the cuts in funding.

Even humanitarian aid, aimed at bypassing political institutions to serve urgent needs, has shrunk to $1.1 billion ($1.7 billion) this year, down from $5.7 billion ($8.7 billion) in 2022.

Ziaul Haq Mohammadi, a student at al-Falah University in the eastern city of Jalalabad, was studying in his room at home when the quake struck. He said he tried to stand up but was knocked over by the power of the tremor.

“We spent the whole night in fear and anxiety because at any moment another earthquake could happen.”