ISLAMABAD, Pakistan and LONDON — The death toll from Sunday’s earthquake in Afghanistan rose to 1,109 on Tuesday, with another 2,938 people injured, according to Shah Mahmood, a Taliban official in Nangarhar Province.
Mahmood said the 6.0 magnitude quake, which struck just before midnight, destroyed some 8,000 houses.
Emergency responders have yet to reach some villages, where they fear there may be more dead and injured under the rubble, he said.
The powerful earthquake’s epicenter was about 17 miles east of Jalalabad, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
Almost all of the deaths were in Kunar Province, officials said in a statement shared Monday by Zabihullah Mujahid, a government spokesperson. Others were killed in Nangarhar Province, said Mufti Abdul Matin Qani, spokesperson for the Ministry of Interior.
Deadly earthquakes have struck Afghanistan several times in recent years, including a 5.9 magnitude quake in June 2022 and a 6.3 magnitude one in October 2023. The death toll for each of those quakes rose to over 1,000 people, local officials said in their aftermaths.
An estimated 12,000 people have been directly affected by Sunday’s, according to the World Health Organization in Afghanistan.
ABC News’ Will Gretsky and Somayeh Malekian contributed to this report.
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