Just before midnight on Sunday, Matiullah Shahab woke up to find his house in Afghanistan's remote Kunar province shaking.
An earthquake measuring 6.0 magnitude had struck eastern Afghanistan, leaving at least 800 people dead, according to the UN.
Even though the epicenter of the quake was 16km (10 miles) away, the whole of Shahab's village of Asadabad trembled. The 23 family members who live with him ran out of their bedrooms as they feared the walls would fall in on them and stayed awake all night in their garden.
When day broke, Matiullah, a freelance journalist and human rights activist, drove from his home to reach the remote mountainous area at the epicenter of the quake. He walked for two hours to arrive at the village of Andarlachak, where he found several young children being treated by medics in the street. A pair of toddlers lay together on a stretcher with bruises on their chests and faces. Others were wrapped in white sheets. The village alone accounted for 79 deaths.
“I saw many dead bodies,” Matiullah reports. “I felt the aftershocks 17 times.”
He helped locals dig graves for the deceased and noted that many survivors were too shocked to speak, appearing as 'robots,' with dust covering their faces. Due to blocked roads, Taliban government rescue operations have relied on helicopters, but many mountainous areas remain inaccessible, and reports indicate people are still trapped under rubble.
Another resident, Ezzatullah Safi, described his experience, stating, “I woke to the screams of children, women, and animals.” With communication down and homes damaged, the community faced significant challenges, and grief permeated the atmosphere as the injured were airlifted to clinics.
The magnitude of the disaster has raised concerns over immediate aid and the long-term recovery efforts required in the affected regions.
