At least 800 people were killed in a powerful 6.0 magnitude earthquake that struck eastern Afghanistan at midnight on Sunday. According to the data provided by the Taliban government on Monday, more than 2,500 have been injured.

It is said that the earthquake, whose epicenter was 27 km northeast of Jalalabad, caused great damage to the cities of Kunar province. According to the US Geological Survey, the earthquake was at a depth of 8 km.

Taliban government chief spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid gave details of the dead and injured in a press conference on Monday and said that most of the casualties were in Kunar. Most of the houses and buildings in the area are made of bricks and wood and are of low height and weak.

A local of Nurgal district, one of the most affected areas of Kunar, said that almost the entire village there was destroyed. "Most of the children and the elderly are trapped in the rubble," he said, "we need help here." There is a situation to evacuate the buried people immediately, but there is no one to take out the buried bodies or to rescue the injured.'

After the earthquake, the communication link here has been cut off, and the roads are blocked, so it is difficult to get the injured to the hospital and even the rescue workers to reach the scene. The rescue workers are reaching the spot after walking for four/five hours. As the earthquake struck at 11:47 p.m. while most of them were sleeping, many people were buried under the debris and died.

A young man from Nurgal's Maja Dara area who managed to survive his injuries said that he woke up hearing a loud noise like before the storm before the earthquake. "I felt like the whole mountain was shaking, immediately I ran to the place where the children were sleeping and rescued three of them," said the young man. Being half buried, I could not get out on my own. I was trapped there for three/four hours before I was rescued.' The young man, who was being treated at Nangarhar Hospital, told the Associated Press over the phone, 'My wife and two sons died on the spot, my father was injured and is being treated at the hospital with me.' He mentioned that since the number of casualties in many areas is still not available, the details of the damage may increase.

Mujahid, the chief spokesman of the Taliban government, has said that emergency services have been delivered by helicopter to some areas due to road blockage. "In some villages, the injured and the dead have not yet been removed from the rubble, so the number of casualties and injured may increase," he told reporters.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, stated that the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan has become very miserable due to the earthquake and has appealed to international donors and supporting organizations to take immediate action for relief. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies issued a statement asking for immediate assistance in searching for the dead and rescuing the injured.