Tragic evidence confirms Afghan authorities’ fears for hundreds of dead and thousands of injured by the strong earthquake of size 6 grade It hit the Kunar province, in southeastern Afghanistan on Sunday night, especially in the area adjacent to Pakistan, as rescuers continue to seek survivors in the ruins of houses.

According to the Taliban Interior Ministry, the dead are so far up to 610 and the injured are more than 1,300.

The epicenter of the earthquake was found near Jalalabad, the fifth largest city in Afghanistan, and about 140 kilometers from Kabul.

The region of the earthquake is mountainous with limited communications, which means that the information is slowly coming.

Authorities expect the death toll to increase, as many houses have become debris and there is currently no accurate picture of whether there are trapped or victims.

The Ministry of Defense carries 30 doctors and 800 kg of medical material to the eastern Kunar province to support local hospitals flooded by victims, according to the state -run Bakhtar news agency in Afghanistan.

Taliban leader Moula Nurundin Turab, head of the Ministry of National Disaster Management, also arrived at Kunar to oversee crisis efforts.

Due to the mountain landscape, rescuers make a great effort to reach the affected. The effort is made even more difficult to state the streets in the provinces of Kunar and Nangar, which are not open. “Mostly they are covered with stones because of the earthquake and it is very difficult to go there right now,” said Al Jazeera’s correspondent.

“It’s hard for authorities to rescue people right now,” he said, adding that most houses in the affected areas are mudso they easily collapsed.

“Unconfirmed information shows that nearly 30 people from a village have been killed, but so far there is no accurate details about the victims,” ​​the early morning said. Representative of the Ministry of Health, Sarafat Zaman. Three villages were “completely destroyed and serious damage,” he added.

Afghanistan

“Some of the injured have survived and the victims trapped under the damaged houses have been recovered,” he said, adding that search and rescue efforts are still underway in the area.

“The number of injured and the dead is probably higher, but because the area has limited access and communication, our teams are still on the spot. Once accurate information is collected, if God wants, we will share it with you, “he said.

The epicenter of the earthquake, which occurred at 23:47 (local time; 22:17 Greek time) at a low depth of -8 kilometers -was found 42 kilometers from Jalalambad, according to the estimate of the US Institute of Geological Studies (USGS). The German Geosciences Research Center (GFZ), for its part, also estimated that the magnitude of the earthquake was 6 degrees, estimating that the focal depth was slightly larger, 10 kilometers.

Journalists at the French Agency felt the earthquake by Kabul, where they reported it lasted many seconds, as well as in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad, 370 kilometers away in a straight line.

According to Al Jazeera, there are reports that the earthquake was felt until the Tajikistanthe Uzbekistanthe Pakistan and India.

Afghanistan is often affected by strong earthquakes, especially in the Hindu Cous Mountains, near which the Eurasian and Indian Tectonic Plaque intersect.

The area hit by the earthquake on Sunday night had already been hit by sudden floods on the weekend that swept the Nangarhar and Kunar provinces between Friday and Saturday, killing at least five peopleaccording to local media.