KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — An earthquake in Afghanistan’s east has killed more than 610 people, injured over 1,300 and destroyed numerous villages, a spokesman for the Taliban government said Monday.
The 6.0 magnitude quake late Sunday hit a series of towns in the province of Kunar, near the city of Jalalabad in neighboring Nangahar province, causing extensive damage.
The quake at 11:47 p.m. was centered 27 kilometers (17 miles) east-northeast of the city of Jalalabad in Nangarhar province, the U.S. Geological Survey said. It was just 8 kilometers (5 miles) deep. Shallower quakes tend to cause more damage.
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 stretchered out of collapsed buildings 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 late-night quake killed 610 people and injured 1,300 in Kunar. Many houses were destroyed.
