Afghanistan earthquake kills over 1,400 and destroys villages – all we know so far
Over 1,400 people have been killed and at least 3,250 others injured after an earthquake hit eastern Afghanistan, according to the Afghan Red Crescent Society.
The quake hit the country’s rugged northeastern province of Kunar, near the Pakistan border, at roughly midnight on Sunday, destroying several villages, officials said.
Rescuers were trying to reach isolated villages in the mountainous province where the quake hit, with the provincial head of disaster management, Ehsanullah Ehsan, saying: “We cannot accurately predict how many bodies might still be trapped under the rubble. Our effort is to complete these operations as soon as possible and to begin distributing aid to the affected families.”
Here’s what we know so far.
Local residents walk by a house destroyed by the earthquake in Mazar Dara, Kunar province. Pic: AP
Number of casualties high and area difficult to access, officials say
Sharafat Zaman, a spokesman for Afghanistan’s ministry of public health, said: “Rescue operations are still underway there, and several villages have been completely destroyed.
“The figures for martyrs and injured are changing. Medical teams from Kunar, Nangarhar and the capital Kabul have arrived in the area.”
He said many areas have not been able to report casualty figures and “numbers were expected to change” as deaths and injuries are reported.
Thousands of children were at risk in the aftermath of the quake, the United Nations Children’s Fund warned on Tuesday.
UNICEF said it was sending medicines, warm clothing, tents and tarpaulins for shelter, as well as hygiene items such as soap, detergent, towels, sanitary pads and water buckets.
Taliban soldiers were also deployed to the area to provide help and security, the government said.
Rescue teams and authorities were trying to dispose of animal carcasses quickly to minimise the risk of contamination to water resources, a UN official said.
“Damaged roads, ongoing aftershocks, and remote locations of many villages severely impede the delivery of aid,” the World Health Organisation said. It added that over 12,000 people had been affected by the quake.
“The pre-earthquake fragility of the health system means local capacity is overwhelmed, creating total dependence on external actors,” it said.
The large red circle shows the earthquake near Kabul. Pic: German Research Centre for Geosciences
According to earlier reports, 30 people were killed in a single village, the health ministry said.
“The number of casualties and injuries is high, but since the area is difficult to access, our teams are still on site,” said health ministry spokesperson Sharafat Zaman.
The Afghan Red Crescent said its officials and medical teams “rushed to the affected areas and are currently providing emergency assistance to impacted families”.
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‘Multiplicity of crises’ for Afghans
The impact of aid cuts
Afghanistan has been badly affected by Donald Trump’s decision in January to cut funding to USAID and reduce funding for other foreign aid programmes.
The UK has allocated £1m to support the UN and the International Red Cross in delivering critical healthcare and emergency supplies to affected Afghans.
China has said it is ready to provide disaster relief, while India delivered 1,000 family tents to Kabul and was moving 15 tonnes of food supplies to Kunar.
An impoverished country where quakes are always a threat
Earthquakes represent a constant danger in Afghanistan, a country that sits across three geological faultlines.
But the people of this impoverished nation are also vulnerable in a number of other ways.
Since the Taliban regained control in 2021, the international community has withdrawn much of the financial support, which formed the bulk of government spending in Afghanistan.
Even humanitarian aid, which generally bypasses government institutions, has shrunk substantially – from $3.8bn (£2.8bn) in 2022 to $767m (£566m) this year.
The US government, through its international development arm USAID, provided 45% of all assistance granted to Afghanistan last year, but those sums have been slashed by the Trump administration.
The UK, along with France, Germany, Sweden, and others, has also made deep cuts to humanitarian aid.
As a consequence, hundreds of hospitals and local health clinics in the country have been shut this year and related medical posts have been lost.
This funding crisis comes as the country tries to absorb millions of people who fled Afghanistan when the Taliban took power.
More than two million in fact, have come back this year, with Pakistan and Iran taking measures to force their return.
On arrival, they discover a country where more than half the population requires urgent humanitarian assistance, according to the UN, with millions suffering from acute food insecurity.
Large parts of northern Afghanistan are suffering a lengthy drought.
Destructive earthquakes are an unfortunate fact of life in the country.
This most recent rupture near the city of Jalalabad represents the third major quake in the past four years.
But the catastrophe is compounded in a nation that ranks as one of the poorest – and most desperate – on Earth.
What happened?
A 6.0 quake hit Kunar at around 11.47pm local time (8.17pm UK time) on Sunday.
The quake’s epicentre was near Jalalabad, Nangarhar province, at a depth of just five miles (8km). Shallower quakes such as these tend to cause more damage.
Jalalabad is situated about 74 miles (119km) from Kabul. It is considered a remote and mountainous area.
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Afghanistan particularly vulnerable to earthquakes – expert
A second earthquake struck in the same province about 20 minutes later, with a magnitude of 4.5 and a depth of 6.2 miles (10km). This was later followed by a 5.2 earthquake at the same depth.
Homes of mud and stone were levelled by the quake, with deaths and injuries reported in the districts of Nur Gul, Soki, Watpur, Manogi and Chapadare, according to the Kunar Disaster Management Authority.
Ambulances prepare to receive victims of an earthquake. Pic: Nangarhar Media Centre/AP
The first quake hit 17 miles east-northeast of the city of Jalalabad in Nangarhar province, the US Geological Survey said. Jalalabad is a bustling trade city due to its proximity to a key border crossing between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
It has a population of around 300,000 people, according to the municipality, but its metropolitan area is believed to be much larger.
Most of its buildings are low-rise constructions predominantly made from concrete and brick, though its outer areas include homes built of mud bricks and wood.
People carry an earthquake victim on a stretcher to an ambulance at an airport in Jalalabad. Pic: Reuters
Quake measures slightly lower than the country’s deadliest disaster
Afghanistan is prone to earthquakes, particularly in the Hindu Kush mountain range, where the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates meet.
The country is also one of the world’s poorest, having suffered decades of conflict, with poor infrastructure leaving it particularly vulnerable to natural disasters.
A magnitude 6.3 earthquake and strong aftershocks struck Afghanistan on 7 October 2023.
Afghans donate blood for quake victims. Afghanistan Ministry of Public Health/AP
The country’s Taliban government said at least 4,000 people had been killed, but the United Nations said the number of people killed was around 1,500.
The 2023 earthquake is considered the deadliest natural disaster to hit Afghanistan in recent memory.
A series of other earthquakes in the country’s west killed more than 1,000 people last year.
Humanitarian officials and locals said many villages are still recovering and living in temporary structures after the previous disasters.
Aid distribution. Pic: Bakhtar News Agency
Disaster adds to ‘perfect storm of problems’ for Afghanistan
The earthquake is a “perfect storm” in a country that is already suffering a “multiplicity of crises,” the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has told Sky News.
Filippo Grandi said the situation in the country was “very tragic” and added: “We have very little information as of yet, but already, reports of hundreds of people killed and many more made homeless.”
Afghanistan already has finite resources, as it is one of the world’s poorest countries and is also war-torn, having been taken over by the Taliban in 2021 when foreign forces withdrew after years of fighting.
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The withdrawal triggered a cut to the international funding that formed the bulk of government finances in Afghanistan.
Humanitarian aid, aimed at bypassing political institutions to serve urgent needs, has shrunk to $767m (£567m) this year, down from $3.8bn (£2.08bn) in 2022, according to Reuters, yet the United Nations estimates more than half the population is in urgent need of aid.
Mr Grandi said Afghanistan is also suffering from a “big drought”, while Iran has “sent back almost 2 million people” and Pakistan “threatens to do the same”.
“It’s extremely difficult to mobilise resources because of the Taliban. So it’s a perfect storm,” he added. “And this earthquake, likely to have been quite devastating, is going to just add to the misery.”
He appealed to “all those who can help to please do that”.
Emergency relief hampered by lack of women’s rights, charity warns
Diplomats and aid officials say crises elsewhere in the world, along with donor frustration over the Taliban’s policies towards women, have spurred the cuts in funding.
Oxfam’s chief executive Halima Begum told Sky News: “Emergency relief in Afghanistan, either over the long term or even during this emergency, is a really difficult process because women’s rights are not upheld very well in this country.”
She said providing aid “presents a very difficult and complex challenge for us” and the charity had to pull out of the country “for reasons to do with operational difficulty”.
Oxfam is working through partner agencies such as the British Red Cross, “trying to figure out how best we can get support to what you can see are very difficult, mountainous regions”, she said.
She added: “All of the NGOs [non-governmental organisations] and charities will be getting together, figuring out who is present there.
“And of course, there’s an ongoing conversation and monitoring with the Disasters Emergency Committee to just see where the death toll goes and what that response level should be.”
“So far, no foreign governments have reached out to provide support for rescue or relief work,” a spokesperson of Afghanistan’s foreign office said.
A spokesperson for China’s foreign ministry said the country was ready to provide disaster relief assistance “according to Afghanistan’s needs and within its capacity”.
In a post on X, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said its mission in Afghanistan was preparing to help those in areas devastated by the quake.
Two of the three Britons killed in the Lisbon funicular crash have been named.
Kayleigh Smith, 36, and William Nelson, 44, were a couple and died alongside 14 others in Wednesday’s incident.
Ms Smith graduated from the Arden School of Theatre in Manchester, where Mr Nelson ran the master’s degree in directing.
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Lisbon crash: What happened?
The identity of the third British victim has not yet been confirmed.
MADS theatre in Macclesfield, Cheshire, said Ms Smith was a “valued member of our society” who will be “greatly missed”.
It said she was an award-winning director and actress, who had also done multiple crew and front-of-house roles.
Five Portuguese citizens died when the packed carriage plummeted out of control – four of them workers at a charity on the hill – but most victims were foreigners.
Police said the other fatalities were two Canadians, two South Koreans, one American, one French citizen, one Swiss and one Ukrainian.
All but one were declared dead at the scene – and 21 others in the packed carriage were injured.
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‘We felt no brakes anymore’
The yellow carriages of the Gloria funicular are a big draw for tourists, as well as a proud symbol of the Portuguese capital.
The journey is just 265m (870ft) up a steep hill and takes three minutes, with two carriages travelling in opposite directions on a linked cable.
Read more:
Everything we know about the Lisbon crash
Witnesses reported seeing one of the carriages hurtle down the hill before derailing and crashing 30m from the bottom.
The aftermath shows it crumpled and twisted against the side of a building.
People who were in the bottom carriage said they were a few metres into the climb when it started going backwards.
When they saw the other car speeding towards them, many jumped through the windows to escape.
The crash happened around 6pm on Wednesday. Pic: Reuters
Prime Minister Luis Montenegro called the crash “one of the biggest tragedies of our recent past” and authorities are under intense pressure to quickly identifying the cause.
One witness who was in the lower carriage told Sky’s Europe correspondent Alistair Bunkall that the brakes appeared to fail.
The carriage’s brakeman, Andre Marques, has also been confirmed among the dead.
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‘I screamed, we’re all going to die’
Officials said the streetcar, which has been running since 1914, had a half-hour visual inspection every day and underwent full maintenance last year.
The line links the downtown area near Restauradores Square with Lisbon’s Bairro Alto neighbourhood.
A preliminary technical report due on Friday has now been delayed until Saturday. Another report with a broader scope is expected within 45 days.
Three other funicular lines in Lisbon have been suspended.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said any foreign troops operating as part of a peacekeeping force in Ukraine would be considered a “legitimate target” by Moscow.
It comes a day after French President Emmanuel Macron said 26 of Ukraine’s allies had formally committed to deploying troops “by land, sea or air” to help guarantee Kyiv’s security the day after any ceasefire or peace is achieved.
Mr Macron stressed any troops would be deployed to prevent “any new major aggression” and not at the frontline, adding the force does “not have the will or the objective of waging war against Russia”.
Mr Putin quickly poured cold water on the proposals when speaking at an economic forum in Russia’s eastern Vladivostok region on Friday.
Directly responding to Mr Macron’s comments, he said: “If any troops appear there, especially now, during military operations, we proceed from the fact that these will be legitimate targets for their destruction.
“And if decisions are reached that lead to peace, to long-term peace, then I simply do not see any sense in their presence on the territory of Ukraine, full stop.”
Russia has long argued that one of its reasons for going to war in Ukraine was to prevent NATO from admitting Kyiv as a member and placing its forces in Ukraine.
Speaking today, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said it was important that security guarantees “start working now, during the war, and not only after it ends”.
On Thursday, NATO chief Mark Rutte said Russia had no veto on Western troops being deployed to Ukraine: “Why are we interested in what Russia thinks about troops in Ukraine? It’s a sovereign country. It’s not for them to decide.”
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Our Moscow correspondent Ivor Bennett reveals the that three things Vladimir Putin’s warning to foreign peacekeeping troops in Ukraine reveals.
‘Please come to Moscow’
Mr Putin also addressed the chances of a direct meeting between himself and Mr Zelesnkyy aimed at ending the war.
Such a proposal looked positive after the Russian met Donald Trump in Alaska last month, but Mr Putin said on Friday he did not see much point in such a meeting because “it will be practically impossible to reach an agreement with the Ukrainian side on key issues”.
However, he reiterated an offer he made earlier this week to host Mr Zelenskyy for talks in Moscow, which Ukraine’s defence minister previously declared as “knowingly unacceptable”.
“I said: ‘I’m ready, please, come, we will definitely provide working conditions and security, a 100% guarantee’,” Mr Putin said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin visits an interactive exhibition in Vladivostok. Pic: Sputnik/Reuters
“But if they tell us: ‘we want to meet with you, but you have to go somewhere else for this meeting’, it seems to me that these are simply excessive requests on us.”
Speaking at a news conference in Paris on Thursday, Mr Zelenskyy said US mediators informed him about Mr Putin’s invitation.
“Our American partners told us that Putin invited me to Moscow, and I believe that if you want to avoid a meeting, you should invite me to Moscow,” he said.
However, he said the fact that the issue of organising a meeting arose was “not bad”.
Drone strikes continue
While talks to end the war continue at a diplomatic level, more heavy drone strikes were recorded across Ukraine.
Kyiv’s air force said Moscow attacked Ukraine overnight with 157 strike and decoy drones, as well as seven missiles of various types.
Air defences shot down or jammed 121 of the drones, it said, but 35 drones and seven missiles still struck 10 locations.
Russian drone attack damages houses in Dnipro. Pic: Reuters
Russian drone attack damages houses in Dnipro. Pic: Reuters
Elsewhere, Russian troops destroyed 92 Ukrainian drones overnight, according to its defence ministry.
Local social media channels in the city of Ryazan, approximately 200 kilometres (125 miles) southeast of Moscow, reported that the city’s Rosneft oil refinery had been targeted. Ryazan’s regional governor said that drone debris had fallen on an “industrial enterprise” but did not give further details.
Ukraine has stepped up attacks on Russian oil infrastructure that it says fuels Moscow’s war effort in recent months.
Military analyst Professor Michael Clarke said Ukraine’s campaign on Russia’s oil refineries has been a successful one so far, but doubts it will hurt Moscow’s war machine too much.
“Will that directly affect the war? Probably not. Because the Russian military runs on diesel,” he said.
“It filters through to the war in the sense that it inconveniences and bothers the Russians and reminds the Russian population that this war has a cost to them as well.”
Hamas has released a video showing two Israeli hostages, one of whom says he is being held in Gaza City, where the IDF has launched a major offensive.
Guy Gilboa-Dalal and Alon Ohel were kidnapped during the October 2023 massacre and are two of 48 captives still believed to be held by Hamas, with 20 thought to still be alive.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered his military to occupy the whole of Gaza, with troops and armour currently assaulting Gaza City, where around a million people lived before the war broke out.
On Friday, the IDF bombed a high-rise building in the city’s west that – without providing evidence – it said was being used by Hamas. The military claimed that civilians were warned beforehand.
Pictures from Gaza City show Palestinians running for safety as the building collapses.
Guy Gilboa-Dalal (right) and Alon Ohel. Pics: Bring Them Home Now
Hostages appear in video released by Hamas
The video was edited and featured an exhausted-looking Mr Gilboa-Dalal speaking for around three-and-a-half minutes.
He appears in a car for some of the video and says that he is being held in Gaza City along with other hostages.
He says that he is afraid of being killed by Israel’s latest assault.
The video is dated 28 August. Sky News could not independently determine the date of recording.
Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike on a tent, outside al Shifa Hospital, in Gaza City. Pic: Reuters
Mr Gilboa-Dalal appears to be in the backseat of a car that is being driven around. At one point, he identifies a passing building as one belonging to the Red Cross.
Hamas has refused to allow the Red Cross to see the hostages.
At one point, Mr Ohel, 24, is also seen.
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Israeli strike hits Gaza displacement camp
Family mark ‘sign of life’
In a statement, Mr Gilboa-Dalal’s family said: “We have received a sign of life from our Guy after six months since the previous video in which he was seen with Evyatar David watching their friends being released.
“Guy, Alon, and other hostages were transferred to Gaza, and we are deeply concerned for their lives. They must be brought home.”
But talks between Israel and Hamas via mediators – aimed at stopping the fighting and freeing the hostages – collapsed in July.
After the release of the video, Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid urged Israeli negotiators to resume talks on a deal to free the hostages.
Read more:
Anger over Israeli president’s visit to UK
A diary of daily life in Gaza
Smoke rises as a building hit by an Israeli air strike collapses in Gaza City. Pic: Reuters
Strike on high-rise building
The release of the hostage video comes as the Israeli military continues its attack on Gaza City, where residents say it bombed a high-rise tower on Friday.
The building’s management said it was being used for displaced people and denied it had been used for anything other than civilian purposes.
Footage of the strike showed the building collapsing and sending thick clouds of smoke billowing over nearby tent camps.
Father-of-two Ismail, from the city’s Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood, told Reuters that his family feared they would not be able to return if they fled.
“We pray for a ceasefire,” he said.
More than 64,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Gaza Strip since the war began, Gaza health authorities say.
The war was sparked by Hamas’ attack on Israel, when militants killed 1,200 people and took around 250 hostages.
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