Afghanistan earthquake latest: More than 800 killed; UN official warns of 'perfect storm' after villages 'destroyed'

That's all for now, but stay tuned to our website and app, where we will keep across any further major developments.

Until then, here is a quick recap of today's disaster and its aftermath so far:

• Afghan authorities from the Taliban-run government say more than 800 people have been killed, with at least 2,800 injured - figures that may yet rise as rescue operations struggle to reach remote areas;
• That came after an earthquake struck at around midnight local time, at about a depth of 10km, a shallow level that the British Geological Survey says results in stronger ground shakes;
• Several villages are said to have been completely destroyed in the east, while the Red Cross fears more aftershocks in the coming days and warns that people will be displaced into the winter;
• Rescue teams are struggling to reach some parts due to mountainous terrain and inclement weather, after floods and landslides over the weekend;
• It's Afghanistan's third major deadly earthquake since the Taliban took over in 2021, triggering a cut to the international funding that formed the bulk of the country's government's finances.

The latest earthquake to strike Afghanistan is "likely to dwarf the scale of the humanitarian needs" caused by the last major tremor that hit the country, the International Rescue Committee has said.

The previous magnitude 6.3 earthquake struck in October 2023 and was followed by strong aftershocks.

It was Afghanistan's deadliest natural disaster in recent memory, with the Taliban government estimating 4,000 were killed, though the UN gave a far lower number of around 1,500.

'Profoundly fearful'

On today's quake, IRC Afghan country director Sherine Ibrahim added: "Within the first twelve hours, at least 1,500 people are reported to have been injured and entire roads and communities have been cut off from accessing nearby towns or hospitals.

"Although we have been able to act fast, we are profoundly fearful for the additional strain that this disaster will have on the overall humanitarian response in Afghanistan."

Ibrahim added: "Global funding cuts have dramatically hampered our ability to respond to the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan.

"It is high time that the international community recognises the immense need in the country and steps up support for Afghans who are in critical need."

The bodies of people killed in the earthquake have been left lying in the street because there is no place for them to go, according to a major aid group's branch chief.

Jacopo Caridi, country director for the Norwegian Refugee Council, spoke to our presenter Kamali Melbourne from the Afghan capital Kabul.

"This earthquake is another disaster hitting Afghanistan on top of all the other crises that regularly hit the country, like extreme poverty, and the lack of capacities to respond to any kind of a disaster," he said.

The majority of the areas affected are not reachable "because the roads collapsed and the local authorities are working to establish other connections", he added.

"We got information from local leaders that there are bodies on the street, because people died and there is no place to put them," Caridi said.

He said there are "very few" helicopters available for rescue missions, which are ongoing but with "very limited capacities".

"Hundreds of people died and thousands are on the street because they don't have homes anymore," he said.

Watch his full remarks in the video below...

Here are some of the latest pictures coming in from Afghanistan:

More aftershocks are feared in the coming days as floods and landslides hamper recovery efforts, a Red Cross spokesperson has said.

The Afghan Red Crescent Society is working to help people affected by the earthquake and has deployed emergency teams to deliver relief and conduct aerial and field assessments.

Jeremy Smith, the British Red Cross country manager for Afghanistan, said:  "The location of this earthquake is very remote and mountainous, which makes rescue efforts particularly challenging

"There have been repeated aftershocks and more are feared in the coming days.

"Floods and landslides over the weekend have also affected rescue efforts.

"Sadly, people will be displaced for a long period into the winter as homes have been destroyed. The Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is delivering vital aid and will continue to do so for as long as people need us."

Pope Leo XIV has said he is "deeply saddened by the significant loss of life" caused by the earthquake in Afghanistan.

Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican's secretary of state, said the pontiff "offers fervent prayers for the souls of the deceased, for the injured and for those still missing".

He said the Pope "expresses his heartfelt solidarity in particular with those who mourn the loss of loved ones and with the emergency personnel and civil authorities involved in rescue and recovery efforts".

A seismologist has explained the impact of the earthquake in Afghanistan, saying over 200,000 people in the affected region will have felt the ground shaking.

Dr Brian Baptie, seismologist at the British Geological Survey, told our presenter Kamali Melbourne the tremor struck at a shallow depth of 8km which "inevitably results in stronger ground shaking because the earthquake's closer to the Earth's surface".

"We estimate at the moment that over 200,000 people in the region will have been exposed to what's called very strong ground shaking," he added.

"And that's likely to result in the kind of damage that we're seeing, particularly for buildings that are vulnerable to earthquake shaking."

He said many of the buildings in the area are extremely vulnerable because they are made out of things like "adobe block construction, unreinforced brick and masonry", meaning in the event of an earthquake, they can suffer "considerable damage".

Further threats

Baptie said following the earthquake there have been "several aftershocks", with at least two having magnitudes above 5.

"Those kind of earthquakes are able to cause further damage, particularly when the buildings are already damaged and in an even more vulnerable state," he added.

He said the region "has experienced very many significant earthquakes in the past" because Afghanistan "sits at the boundary between two of the Earth's tectonic plates".

The Indian Plate lies to the south of Afghanistan and the Eurasian Plate to the north, with their collision making it "one of the most seismically active regions on the Earth".

Watch his full insight in the clip below...

Cuts have had a "massive impact" on the delivery of aid in Afghanistan, a journalist has warned, as the country tries to cope with last night's quake.

In an interview with Paste BN earlier (see previous post at 11.43), Ali Latifi, a journalist in Kabul, said the International Committee for the Red Cross cut funding to around 20 hospitals across the country, "including the one in Jalalabad that everyone is being sent to".

"So it has a massive impact because you have less money to go around at a time when there are earthquakes," he said.

"On top of that," he said, over the last couple of years Iran and Pakistan have sent hundreds of thousands of people back to Afghanistan, with more than a million people returning from both countries over the last year.

"So again, it's more people having to make do with fewer resources and a government trying to provide as much assistance as possible to increasing amounts of people with way fewer resources than has ever been available to them," he said.

'Put aside petty politics'

Asked if the Taliban government would accept the help of Western governments, Latifi said: "I think the Islamic emirate would accept anybody's help."

He added: "You don't have to like the government that runs the country in order to send assistance.

"In this case, you're talking about people who are subject to a natural disaster that need real assistance and real aid - so can you put aside petty politics in order to help people who are in a devastating situation?"

People were "having to dig their relatives out" and then make "treacherous" journeys on unpaved roads at night to reach the nearest clinics and hospitals, a journalist in Afghanistan has said after the earthquake.

In an interview with Paste BN describing rescue efforts, Ali Latifi, a journalist in Kabul, said it was important to remember "the epicentre and most of the victims are in rural areas, areas that hadn't been developed in years, that are still largely undeveloped, where people live in simple mud homes that aren't really made to withstand earthquakes".

He said "a lot of the roads are still unpaved and the nearest clinic can be several kilometres away - and the nearest actual hospital is likely in the city of Jalalabad, which can be hours away" along "mountainous, rugged roads".

He added: "So people are essentially having to dig their relatives out at night under the rubble and then trying to get them to a clinic, a hospital, anywhere."

Latifi said in the most heavily affected districts in Nangarhar province, "just to get to people's homes, you're driving up dirt roads in mountainous terrain, so unless you have an SUV at your disposal, just getting from someone's home to a clinic or a hospital, it's actually rather treacherous, especially at night".

"You're talking about unpaved roads with dirt and rocks and injured people in simple taxis," he said.

The government "has been running helicopters to and from the disaster sites", he added. "But there's only so many helicopters to go around."

In the meantime, people don't necessarily have "excavators and things like that at their disposal" to make rescue efforts effective, Latifi said.

A man who lost his wife and two sons in the earthquake has said he was "half-buried and unable to get out" as he described the moments after the disaster struck.

Sadiqullah, who lives in the Maza Dara area of Nurgal, said he was woken by a deep boom that sounded like a big storm approaching.

He ran to where his children were sleeping and managed to rescue three of them, but when he was about to return to gather the rest of his family the room fell on top of him.

"I was half-buried and unable to get out," he told the Associated Press from Nangarhar Hospital.

"My wife and two sons are dead and my father is injured and in hospital with me. 

"We were trapped for three to four hours until people from other areas arrived and pulled me out."

He said it felt like the whole mountain was shaking.