Afghan Earthquake Death Toll Soars to 2,445 as Scenes of Devastation Emerge

Taliban* government officials reported the growing death toll on Sunday as volunteers in the country race against time to rescue survivors.

Scenes of devastation emerged from war torn Afghanistan Sunday as volunteers urged international organizations to provide assistance in rescuing survivors.

“The tragedy is very huge, we cannot define it to you in simple words,” said one volunteer from Zenda Jan, a district in Herat province in Western Afghanistan. "People are still trapped in the debris, they are alive, but we cannot reach them.”

One video shared on social media showed a young girl being pulled from the rubble of a collapsed building, stunned and caked in gray dust. Her mother was found grasping the girl’s hand, though it wasn’t clear if she survived.

A Taliban* spokesperson told international media the earthquake measured a magnitude of 6.3 and pleaded for food, medicine and tents to house survivors. It appeared rescuers at the scene lacked professional training; volunteers called on international organizations to send trained rescue teams as Afghans buried under the wreckage tenuously cling to life.

Several aftershocks followed the quake, according to the United States Geological Survey, including magnitude 6.3, 5.9 and 5.5 tremors. Earlier estimates in the immediate aftermath of the event on Saturday had placed the death toll at over 100, but that number climbed rapidly as the country struggled to respond to the disaster.

“I am donating all of my[Cricket World Cup] match fees to help the affected people,” said Afghan cricket player Rashid Khan on the X platform on Sunday. “Soon, we will be launching a fundraising campaign to call upon those who can support the people in need.”

I learned with great sadness about the tragic consequences of the earthquake that struck the western provinces (Herat, Farah, and Badghis) of Afghanistan.
I am donating all of my #CWC23 match fees to help the affected people.
Soon, we will be launching a fundraising campaign to… pic.twitter.com/dHAO1IGQlq

— Rashid Khan (@rashidkhan_19) October 8, 2023

The United States occupied the landlocked Central Asian country of Afghanistan for nearly 20 years in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, although al-Qaeda** leader Osama bin Laden was eventually found hiding in neighboring Pakistan. The Taliban quickly returned to power after the US withdrew from the country; President Joe Biden seized $7 billion in assets from the country’s central bank shortly thereafter.

*The Taliban is a terrorist organization under UN sanctions.

**Al-Qaeda is a terrorist group banned in Russia.