Race to find Afghan quake survivors as death toll soars

Sunday night's powerful 6.0 magnitude earthquake struck several provinces, causing extensive damage.

It flattened villages and trapped people under the rubble of homes constructed mostly of mud bricks and wood that were unable to withstand the shock. 

Rough terrain is hampering rescue and relief efforts, forcing Taliban authorities to air-drop dozens of commandos to evacuate the injured from places where helicopters cannot land. 

Aid agency Save the Children said one of its teams walked 20km to reach villages cut off by rock falls, carrying medical equipment on their backs with the help of community members.

An aftershock of 5.2 magnitude close to the epicenter of Sunday's quake rattled the area on Tuesday, according to the US Geological Survey. There were no immediate reports of damage.

Indrika Ratwatte, the UN's resident co-ordinator for Afghanistan, said rescuers are scrambling in a "race against time" to reach the mountainous and remote area. 

In a media briefing in Geneva, he warned of a surge in casualty numbers. 

"We cannot afford to forget the people of Afghanistan who are facing multiple crises, multiple shocks, and the resilience of the communities has been saturated," Ratwatte said, urging the international community to step forward. 

"These are life and death decisions while we race against time to reach people," he said.

It is the third major earthquake since the Taliban seized power in 2021, and the latest crisis to beset Afghanistan, which is reeling from deep cuts to aid funding, a weak economy, and millions of people forcibly returned from Iran and Pakistan. 

Ratwatte said that when the walls of wooden and mud homes collapse, the roof falls on the occupants, causing injury or death. While the area was low-density, the earthquake struck when everybody was asleep. 

"If you were to model it based on what has happened before, clearly there's no question that the casualty rate is going to be rather exponential," he said.

The Taliban government, which is only recognised by Russia, has appealed for assistance from the international community and the humanitarian sector.

However, help for Afghanistan is in short supply due to competing global crises and reduced aid budgets in donor countries.

The UN humanitarian office released $US5 million ($A7.7 million) from its emergency fund to help kickstart the UN response and that will be matched by $US5 million ($A7.7 million) from the Afghanistan Humanitarian Fund, UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said.

The UN has dispatched at least 25 assessment teams to the region, deploying essential items including blankets and solar lamps to areas that can be reached, Dujarric said. 

Humanitarian experts said that immediate priorities include emergency shelter, critical medical supplies, drinking water and emergency food aid.

But earthquake victims are bearing the brunt of opposition to the Taliban government, especially their restrictive policies on Afghan girls and women, including a ban on them working for NGOs. 

Donor countries had already scaled back their funding and, earlier this year, the US gutted aid to Afghanistan, partly due to concerns that money was going to the Taliban administration.

Kate Carey, the deputy head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Afghanistan, said more than 420 health facilities had closed or were suspended due to the "massive reduction" in funding, with 80 of them in the eastern region, the heart of Sunday's quake.

"The consequence is that the remaining facilities are overwhelmed, have insufficient supplies and personnel, and are not as close to the affected populations as the more local facilities at a time when providing emergency trauma care is needed in the first 24 to 72 hours of the earthquake response," Carey said.