Kabul, Afghanistan — A strong earthquake in far eastern Afghanistan killed at least 622 people, injured over 1,300 and destroyed numerous villages, a spokesman for the Taliban government said Monday.
The quake struck several towns in Kunar province and near the city of Jalalabad in neighboring Nangahar province. The 6.0 magnitude shaker hit at 11:47 p.m. and was centered 17 miles east-northeast of Jalalabad, the U.S. Geological Survey said. It was just 5 miles deep. Shallower quakes tend to cause more damage.
Several aftershocks hit throughout the night, including a powerful and shallow 5.2-magnitude temblor just after 4 a.m., French news agency AFP reported.
The quake shook buildings from Kabul to Islamabad, the Pakistani capital some 230 miles away for several seconds, AFP journalists said.
Stringer / REUTERS 
Footage from Nangarhar showed people frantically digging through rubble with their hands, searching for loved ones in the dead of night, and injured people being taken out of collapsed buildings on stretchers and into helicopters. Villagers in Kunar gave interviews outside their wrecked homes.
Interior Ministry spokesman Abdul Matin Qani confirmed the casualty figures to The Associated Press, saying the quake killed 610 people and injured 1,300 in Kunar. Many houses were destroyed. In Nangarhar, a dozen people died and hundreds were injured, he said.
Rescue operations are underway and medical teams from Kunar, Nangarhar and the capital Kabul have arrived in the area, said Sharafat Zaman, a spokesman for the Ministry of Public Health.
The U.N. said on X that it had rescue teams on the ground “delivering emergency assistance & lifesaving support.” The Afghan Red Crescent posted on X that officials from the agency and “medical teams rushed to the affected areas and are currently providing emergency assistance to impacted families.”
Jalalabad is a bustling trade city due to its proximity with neighboring Pakistan and a key border crossing between the countries. Although it has a population of about 300,000 according to the municipality, it’s metropolitan area is thought to be far larger. Most of its buildings are low-rise constructions, mostly of concrete and brick, and its outlying areas include homes built of mud bricks and wood. Many are of poorly built.
Jalalabad also has considerable agriculture and farming, including citrus fruit and rice, with the Kabul River flowing through the city.
USGS 
Afghanistan is located near the junction of the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates and it is often struck with earthquakes.
A magnitude 6.3 temblor rocked Afghanistan on Oct. 7, 2023, along with strong aftershocks. The Taliban government estimated that at least 4,000 perished. The U.N. gave a far lower figure of about 1,500. It was the deadliest natural disaster to strike Afghanistan in recent memory. More than 90% of those killed were women and children, UNICEF said.
In June 2022, a 5.9 magnitude earthquake struck parts of eastern Afghanistan, killing more than 1,000 people and injuring more than 1,500 others.