At least 250 people died and more than 500 others were injured in Afghanistan after a 6-magnitude earthquake struck in the nation’s east late Sunday, the authorities said, adding that the death toll would likely rise.
The earthquake struck about 17 miles from the city of Jalalabad, a city of about 200,000 people in eastern Afghanistan, the U.S. Geological Survey reported. Jalalabad is less than 100 miles by road from Kabul, the capital, and the aftershocks could be felt across the city throughout the night.
Sediqullah Quraishi Badloon, a communications official for Nangarhar Province, which includes Jalalabad, said that most of the 250 deaths had occurred in neighboring Kunar Province. Nine deaths have been confirmed in Nangarhar, he said.
Zabihullah Mujahid, a government spokesman, said on social media early Monday that the earthquake had “caused loss of life and property damage in some of our eastern provinces.” He gave no other details.
The U.S.G.S. said its models predicted “significant casualties” and potential widespread damage from the earthquake. People in the affected area typically live in structures that are extremely vulnerable to earthquakes, the agency said.
Earthquakes are a prevalent danger in Afghanistan and other countries in the region, including Iran and Turkey, where many people live on or near geological faults. For Afghanistan, any destructive quake is another roadblock to rebuilding a country devastated by decades of war. Many of its densely populated towns and cities sit on or near geological faults.
In 2022, a 5.9-magnitude quake struck in a remote area of Afghanistan’s southeast, killing at least 1,000 people.
The country has been in the grip of a severe economic crisis compounded by the suspension of U.S. foreign aid earlier this year, as well as the expulsions and forced returns of more than two million Afghan nationals from neighboring Iran and Pakistan.
More than half of Afghanistan’s 42 million people were already in need of humanitarian assistance, according to the United Nations.
This is a developing story that will be updated.