KABUL: The death toll from a strong earthquake in Afghanistan’s east rose to 900, with 3,000 people injured, an official said Tuesday as rescue teams scoured the area for survivors. The 6.0 magnitude quake struck late Sunday night in a mountainous region, flattening villages and leaving people trapped under rubble for hours. “The injured are being evacuated, so these figures may change significantly,” Yousaf Hammad, a spokesman for Afghanistan’s National Disaster Management Authority, told The Associated Press.

The quake struck at a relatively shallow depth near Jalalabad late on Sunday, the USGS says.

Toll likely to rise, with significant damage reported across mountainous provinces of Kunar and Nangahar, sources say.