Nurgal, Afghanistan: The death toll from the powerful earthquake that struck eastern Afghanistan at the weekend rose to more than 2,200 on Thursday, making it the deadliest in decades to hit the country.

The magnitude-6.0 quake jolted the mountainous region bordering Pakistan late Sunday. Taliban authorities said 2,205 people were killed and 3,640 injured in Kunar province alone. Another 12 died and hundreds were injured in neighbouring Nangarhar and Laghman.

Deputy government spokesman Hamdullah Fitrat wrote on X that “hundreds of bodies have been recovered from destroyed houses during search and rescue operations,” adding that “rescue efforts are still ongoing.”

Rescue hindered by terrain and aftershocks

Access to the hardest-hit areas has been severely limited. Rockfalls triggered by repeated aftershocks blocked precarious cliffside roads, hampering rescue and relief. Volunteers and rescuers continued to pull bodies from rubble days after the quake.

Despite international aid flights, hundreds of villagers in Nurgal district remained stranded. Families sheltered under torn tarps in the open, with little food or water. A fight erupted when aid finally reached Mazar Dara, where hundreds were camped.

“Yesterday, some people brought some food, everyone flooded on them, people are starving, we haven't had anything to eat for a long time,” said 48-year-old Zahir Khan Safi.

Aid agencies raise alarm

Poor infrastructure, combined with the toll of four decades of war, has stymied the emergency response. The World Health Organization (WHO) warned that healthcare was “under immense strain” due to shortages of staff, medicines and trauma supplies.

WHO appealed for $4 million to expand mobile health services and distribute supplies. “Every hour counts,” said Jamshed Tanoli, the agency’s emergency team lead in Afghanistan. “Hospitals are struggling, families are grieving and survivors have lost everything.”

Crisis within a crisis

The loss of US foreign aid in January this year has accelerated the depletion of Afghanistan’s emergency resources. NGOs and the UN have warned that the quake has created a crisis within a crisis, deepening existing humanitarian struggles.

UN refugee chief Filippo Grandi said the quake had “affected more than 500,000 people” in eastern Afghanistan. The country is already contending with severe drought, endemic poverty, and the forced return of millions of Afghans from Pakistan and Iran since the Taliban’s 2021 takeover.

Even as Afghanistan reeled from its latest disaster, Pakistan intensified expulsions of Afghan nationals. More than 6,300 people crossed the Torkham border point in Nangarhar province on Tuesday, further straining the quake-hit region.