A powerful earthquake struck northern Afghanistan near the city of Mazar-i-Sharif around 1 a.m. local time, causing several buildings to collapse as residents slept inside. The World Health Organization (WHO) and the UN World Food Programme (WFP) swiftly mobilized teams to provide medical care and humanitarian support to the affected communities. Videos circulating online showed rubble scattered across the grounds of the Shrine of Hazrat Ali, also known as the Blue Mosque, a major religious site in the city.
Initial reports confirmed casualties in Samangan province, one of the hardest-hit areas. However, aerial assessments conducted by the UN with support from Swiss authorities revealed less widespread damage than initially feared. According to Richard Trenchard, the UN’s Acting Humanitarian Coordinator in Afghanistan, the flyover showed minimal devastation compared to the catastrophic destruction seen in the Kunar province earthquake in August.
The recent quake comes as Afghanistan is still struggling to recover from the earlier magnitude 6.0 earthquake in Kunar, which destroyed thousands of homes, displaced hundreds of thousands, and left half a million people in need of urgent medical aid. WHO reported that the disaster has now evolved into a prolonged displacement crisis, with families living in temporary shelters under poor sanitary conditions and limited access to healthcare—particularly for women due to the shortage of female staff and privacy barriers.
UN agencies warn that maternal and newborn health needs remain critical amid deep funding cuts. Access to safe drinking water, immunization, and mental health services continues to be severely limited. WHO and partners are working to pre-position medical supplies, deploy disease surveillance teams, and repair damaged hospitals to ensure they can resume operations as quickly as possible.
Given Afghanistan’s vulnerability to frequent seismic activity due to its location on several tectonic fault lines, experts stress the need to strengthen community resilience. UN-Habitat emphasized the importance of training local masons to rebuild homes using traditional Afghan construction techniques that are more resistant to earthquakes. The agency underscored that sustainable reconstruction must preserve the nation’s cultural heritage while ensuring that rebuilding efforts are practical, scalable, and designed to save lives in future disasters.
