Footage from Darai Nur, Afghanistan, shows dozens of houses left in ruin after a 6.0-magnitude earthquake shook the country late on Sunday, August 31.
According to reports, the quake struck at a shallow depth of 8km and could be felt in Kabul and Pakistan's capital Islamabad.
Newly surfaced footage from Dara e-Noor district in Nangarhar province reveals the intensity of destruction following the powerful earthquake that struck eastern Afghanistan late on August 31, 2025. The video shows collapsed mud-brick homes, shattered walls, and residents digging through debris with bare hands, desperate to rescue survivors and salvage what remains.
The 6.0-magnitude quake struck at 11:47 p.m., with its epicenter near Kuz Kunar in Nangarhar province, just northeast of Jalalabad. Its shallow depth—estimated between 8 and 10 kilometers—magnified its destructive force across the mountainous terrain of Kunar and Nangarhar provinces.
According to the Taliban-run Interior Ministry, at least 800 people have been killed and more than 2,500 injured across the affected areas. Kunar province has borne the brunt of the tragedy, with around 610 deaths and over 1,300 injured, while in Dara e-Noor alone, at least 12 deaths and 255 injuries have been reported. Entire villages have been reduced to rubble, leaving thousands homeless.
Rescue operations face enormous challenges. Landslides triggered by the quake have blocked major roads, forcing reliance on helicopter evacuations. Authorities confirm that 40 flights have been carried out from Kunar to Nangarhar, airlifting more than 420 of the injured and deceased to hospitals, including the Nangarhar Regional Hospital in Jalalabad, which is now overwhelmed with patients.
The Afghan Red Crescent Society, in coordination with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, has deployed emergency teams, ambulances, and trauma specialists to the region. Survivors in remote villages, however, remain cut off, with rescuers struggling to reach them amid continuous aftershocks.
International agencies and humanitarian groups are calling for urgent support. The UN has warned that the disaster could worsen due to Afghanistan’s fragile infrastructure, reduced foreign aid access, and the vulnerability of women and children in quake-hit zones.
The haunting scenes from Dara e-Noor underscore the human cost of the disaster: families mourning lost relatives, survivors sifting through ruins, and communities rallying together in the face of overwhelming destruction.
As night falls, rescuers continue their work under dire conditions, while the death toll is expected to climb in the coming days.
