Afghan Red Crescent Society (ARCS) has issued an updated death toll of 1,124 people after a powerful earthquake struck eastern Afghanistan on Sunday night, with 3,251 others injured.
ARCS said on Tuesday that 6.0-magnitude quake caused widespread destruction in Kunar province, where more than 8,000 homes had been destroyed.
“Many people are trapped under the rubble of destroyed homes and rescue efforts are ongoing,” the humanitarian agency said in a statement posted on X.
The National Disaster Management Authority has cited at least 900 deaths and 3,000 injuries, while noting that the numbers were expected to rise as search and rescue operations continued.
According to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the 6.0 magnitude earthquake struck at 19:17 GMT on Sunday, just before midnight local time, near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.
After decades of war, Afghanistan remains one of the world’s poorest countries, dealing with back-to-back humanitarian crises.
The country is struggling with the forced deportation of millions of Afghan refugees from Pakistan and Iran, while its ability to respond to disasters has been severely weakened. (dpa/NAN)