A magnitude 6.0 earthquake shook eastern Afghanistan, killing at least 600 people, and the death toll is expected to rise as information comes in from remote mountain villages.

According to official information, the tremor shook the provinces of Kunar and Nangahar around midnight local time on Monday (19:30 GMT, Sunday), while significant damage was reported in several districts in the mountainous regions. "In the districts of Nurgal, Sawkay, Watapur, Dara Pech and Chapi Dara, approximately 600 people were killed, around 2,000 were injured and hundreds of homes were destroyed," said Ihsanullah Ihsan, director of Information and Culture in Kunar, one of the affected provinces. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) placed the epicenter of the main quake, measuring 6.0, 27 kilometers east of Nangarhar province and at a depth of eight kilometers, which usually amplifies the power of destruction. Following the news, relief teams have struggled to reach some of the more remote communities and their progress has been hampered by landslides, the Taliban state news agency Bakhtar reported. (BNA).

“The number of victims and injured is high, but given the difficult access to the area, our teams remain on the scene,” Sharafat Zaman, a spokesman for the Ministry of Health, said in a statement.

Nearly half a million people likely felt a strong to very strong temblor, which can cause considerable damage to poorly built structures, according to the USGS.

The last time a similar event occurred was in October 2023, when more than 2,000 people were killed after a powerful 6.3 magnitude earthquake struck western Afghanistan, one of the deadliest quakes to hit the country in recent years.

Afghanistan is prone to deadly earthquakes, particularly in the Hindu Kush mountain range where the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates meet.