A powerful earthquake of magnitude 6 struck northeastern Afghanistan on August 31. Aftershocks followed, including a magnitude 5.2 tremor on September 2, according to the United States Geological Survey.
More than 1,400 people have been killed and thousands more injured, the Taliban administration said.
The quakes hit near the eastern city of Jalalabad – among the five largest cities in Afghanistan, and the capital of Nangarhar province. The first quake on August 31 was one of Afghanistan’s worst in years, flattening houses in remote villages.
Rescue workers search for victims amidst debris of a damaged house after a deadly earthquake struck Afghanistan in Kunar province, Afghanistan, September 2, 2025. REUTERS/Sayed Hassib
Afghanistan’s vulnerable buildings
Afghanistan is especially vulnerable to earthquakes as the country is located on two major active faults that have the potential to rupture and cause extensive damage.
Most homes in Afghanistan lack a solid foundation and are often poorly constructed, according to a 2021 paper published in the Journal of Disaster Risk Studies.
Structures are either made of burnt bricks with cement mortar or are sun-dried brick masonry buildings with load-bearing walls. The thickness of the walls ranges from 20 to 30 cm for the burnt bricks and about 40 cm to 80 cm for the sun-dried brick structures. These homes can be covered by large and often heavy roofs that may collapse into the structure, making them extremely vulnerable to seismic activity, according to the report.
Some homes partially damaged by the first quake were destroyed by the second, according to residents. More than 5,400 houses have been destroyed, Taliban administration spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said.
In 2015, a major earthquake struck northeastern Afghanistan, killing several hundred people in Afghanistan and nearby northern Pakistan. Another in 2023 killed at least 1,000 people.
The magnitude of the recent earthquake was less than both of those quakes, but it still caused widespread destruction.
Magnitude measures the size of seismic waves generated by an earthquake, not its strength. The scale is logarithmic, meaning a whole number increase in magnitude represents a 10-fold jump in the size of the earthquake.
For example, an earthquake with a magnitude of 7 is ten times larger than a magnitude 6 earthquake. The actual energy released increases even more rapidly with magnitude. A magnitude 7 quake is nearly 32 times stronger than a magnitude 6 quake in terms of energy released.
Afghanistan is prone to deadly earthquakes, particularly in the Hindu Kush mountain range, where the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates meet.
The eastern provinces of Kunar and Nangarhar were worst hit in the recent quakes.
The difficult terrain has badly hindered rescue workers’ relief efforts in the isolated villages.
Data as of September 3, 2025.
European Union Emergency Response Coordination Centre; United States Geological Survey; Natural Earth; Shuttle Radar Topography Mission; Jà mbá: Journal of Disaster Risk Studies
Simon Scarr and Peter Graff