At midnight on August 31, 2025, a Afghanistan earthquake rattled the eastern mountains near the Pakistan border, registering a magnitude of 6.0. The tremor struck Kunar Province, a rugged region already scarred by decades of conflict, and set off a humanitarian catastrophe that has already claimed more than 3,500 lives. Children accounted for almost one‑third of the dead, a grim statistic that underlines how the most vulnerable bore the brunt of the disaster.
Scale of the disaster
Rescue teams quickly discovered that the quake’s impact radius extended far beyond the epicenter. The United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU‑INWEH) reported that within a 50‑kilometre circle, more than 13,000 buildings were either partially damaged or flattened outright. In several remote villages, as much as 90% of the housing stock was reduced to rubble, leaving entire families exposed to the elements with nothing but the clothes on their backs.
Medical facilities, already scarce in the region, suffered severe damage, forcing clinicians to set up makeshift clinics in schools and community centers. The lack of functional roads turned the delivery of aid into a logistical nightmare; many mountain passes remained blocked for days, delaying the arrival of food, water, and trauma kits.
Why the toll was so high
Several interlocking factors turned a moderate‑size quake into a death‑trap. First and foremost, the majority of homes in Kunar, Nangarhar and Laghman were built from mud bricks or roughly quarried stone, with little to no engineering oversight. When the ground shifted, these structures collapsed like a house of cards.
Second, Afghanistan’s disaster‑management framework has been crippled since the Taliban seized power in 2021. International donors have slashed funding for emergency preparedness, and the country’s own ministries lack the resources to conduct regular earthquake drills or enforce building codes.
Third, the nation’s growing diplomatic isolation has choked off the flow of technical expertise and modern construction materials. Organizations that once helped train local masons in earthquake‑resistant techniques have been forced to withdraw, leaving a generation of builders without even basic knowledge of seismic safety.
UN scientists summed up the situation in a short list of root causes:
- Poor construction quality and absence of enforceable building standards.
- Economic hardship forcing families to live in unsafe, improvised dwellings.
- Weak disaster‑response institutions hampered by sanctions and funding cuts.
- Limited access to international aid and technical assistance due to diplomatic isolation.
Save the Children warned that children are disproportionately affected because they often sleep on the ground floor of multi‑room houses, the parts most likely to collapse. Women, too, faced higher risks, especially in communities where cultural norms keep them confined to the home.
International relief agencies have begun mobilizing, but the scale of the need far outstrips the resources currently on the ground. The United Nations has pledged additional cash, but the process of releasing funds is slowed by political vetting. Meanwhile, neighboring Pakistan has opened border crossings to allow trucks carrying food and medicine to enter, though security checks have added further delays.
Looking ahead, UN experts caution that without decisive action on construction practices and disaster planning, Afghanistan will remain a tinderbox for future quakes. They urge the Taliban authorities to re‑engage with the global community, adopt basic seismic codes, and open the door for humanitarian organizations to operate freely.
