Save the Children said in a statement that last night’s earthquake in northern has forced children and families to flee their homes into the night as the country reels from its second major quake in just two months.
The 6.3-magnitude tremor hit Samangan Province, near the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif, and was felt as far as Kabul and neighboring Pakistan. At least 20 people were killed and more than 320 injured, according to initial reports from the Taliban-run public health ministry.
The humanitarian organization Save the Children said it is deploying a mobile health team to Samangan as part of its emergency response, warning that the quake has not only destroyed homes but also caused severe psychological distress—particularly among children.
“Children are gripped by fear,” said Samira Sayed Rahman, the group’s advocacy director in Afghanistan. “The scale of the damage and destruction will take time to become clear, but the impact on children’s mental health is immediate.”
Families across northern Afghanistan were jolted awake and forced to flee into cold night temperatures, with winter rapidly approaching. Many homes in the region are not built to withstand seismic shocks and collapse easily during even moderate quakes.
Monday’s quake comes just two months after a devastating earthquake on August 31 in Kunar Province, eastern Afghanistan, which killed nearly 2,000 people and destroyed more than 8,000 homes. That disaster left thousands of families homeless, many of whom are still living in tents as winter approaches.
With nearly half of Afghanistan’s population in need of humanitarian assistance, Save the Children called on donors and governments to provide flexible and sustained funding that allows rapid response to emergencies while supporting long-term recovery.
“This is tragically the latest in a series of earthquakes to hit Afghanistan,” Ms. Rahman said. “Now, families in the north are also experiencing fear and uncertainty after this latest powerful quake.”
