KABUL: A powerful earthquake struck eastern Afghanistan on Monday, killing at least 622 people and injuring more than 1,500, according to the Taliban-run interior ministry. Rescue helicopters ferried the wounded from collapsed villages as emergency teams combed through rubble in search of survivors.
The 6.0-magnitude quake, which hit at a shallow depth of 10 km (6 miles), destroyed hundreds of mud and stone homes in remote districts bordering Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. In Kunar province alone, officials reported three villages completely flattened, with at least 250 dead and 500 injured.
“Figures from just a few clinics show over 400 injured and dozens of fatalities,” health ministry spokesperson Sharafat Zaman said, warning that the toll is likely to rise as rescuers reach cut-off communities.
Television footage showed residents working alongside soldiers and medics to carry the wounded into ambulances. Early reports indicated up to 30 deaths in a single village.
Despite the devastation, Afghan officials said no foreign governments have yet offered support for rescue or relief operations.
Afghanistan is highly prone to earthquakes, particularly in the Hindu Kush region where tectonic plates collide. Last year, a series of quakes in the country’s west
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