New magnitude 5.5 quake shakes Afghan region, death toll exceeds 1,400
Rescue operations underway as strong earthquake kills 1,400 in eastern Afghanistan
By Sayed Hassib and Charlotte Greenfield
KABUL, Afghanistan (Reuters) - An earthquake of magnitude 5.5 shook southeastern Afghanistan on Tuesday, sparking fears of further damage and destruction almost two days after a quake of magnitude 6 killed more than 1,400 people and injured thousands more in the same region.
Tuesday's quake occurred at a relatively shallow depth of 10 km (6 miles), the same as the one that struck at midnight on Sunday. That was one of Afghanistan's worst quakes in years, flattening houses in remote villages.
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It was unclear immediately how much damage Tuesday's new quake had caused.
An Afghan man looks for his belongings amidst the rubble of a collapsed house after a deadly magnitude-6 earthquake that struck Afghanistan around midnight, in Dara Noor, in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, September 1, 2025. REUTERS/Sayed Hassib
The difficult terrain has badly hindered rescue workers' relief efforts in the isolated villages of the mountainous region.
At least 1,411 people are known to have died so far, 3,124 have been injured and more than 5,400 houses destroyed, Taliban administration spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said.
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More people are feared trapped under rubble, said the Afghan Red Crescent Society, a humanitarian group working in the region. The U.N. coordinator in Afghanistan said the death toll was sure to rise further.
Afghanistan is prone to deadly earthquakes, particularly in the Hindu Kush mountain range, where the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates meet.
Damaged houses are seen after a deadly magnitude-6 earthquake that struck Afghanistan around midnight, in Dara Noor, in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, September 1, 2025. REUTERS/Sayed Hassib
The eastern provinces of Kunar and Nangarhar were worst hit in Sunday night's earthquake.
(Reporting by Sayed Hassib in Mazar Dara, Kunar Province; Mohammad Yunus Yawar in Kabul, Charlotte Greenfield in Islamabad; Writing by Sudipto Ganguly and Shilpa Jamkhandikar; editing by Michael Perry, YP Rajesh, Raju Gopalakrishnan and Gareth Jones)