A powerful 6.3-magnitude earthquake that struck northern Afghanistan early Monday has killed at least 20 people and left more than 900 injured, according to the United Nations, as emergency efforts continue in some of the country’s most underserved provinces.
Speaking at a press briefing in New York, Farhan Haq, deputy spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General, said that the majority of casualties were reported in the provinces of Balkh and Samangan, where homes were destroyed and local infrastructure heavily damaged.
“The UN and our humanitarian partners are working closely with local and national disaster management authorities to assess the situation and coordinate the delivery of aid,” Haq said.
A region already in crisis
Even before the quake, the region was grappling with chronic poverty, prolonged drought, and fragile public services, he noted. These challenges have been compounded by the return of more than two million Afghans in recent months — many of them forcibly deported from neighboring countries.
“The people in these provinces were already facing acute hardship, and this earthquake has only deepened their vulnerability,” Haq said.
Haq warned that the UN’s response efforts in Afghanistan remain severely underfunded, with just over one-third of the $2.4 billion Humanitarian Response Plan financed to date. That leaves a funding gap of more than $1.5 billion.
He reiterated the UN’s call for international support to address Afghanistan’s broader humanitarian crisis, which affects nearly half the population, according to aid agencies.
The earthquake struck at approximately 1:00 a.m. on Monday, with the epicenter in the Nahrin district of Samangan Province, according to the Afghan Red Crescent Society. The tremors were felt across northern Afghanistan and into parts of neighboring Pakistan.
Initial assessments indicate widespread damage to homes and infrastructure, particularly in rural communities that lack access to emergency services. Rescue and relief teams have been deployed to the area, though access remains challenging in mountainous regions.
This is the second major earthquake to strike Afghanistan in two months. A quake in eastern Kunar province on August 31 killed nearly 2,000 people and left thousands homeless, further straining humanitarian operations in the country.
