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KABUL: Hundreds were feared dead and injured after an earthquake of magnitude 6 struck two rugged eastern provinces in Afghanistan, authorities said on Monday, as helicopters ferried the injured to safety from rubble being combed in a hunt for survivors.

The disaster will further stretch the resources of the South Asian nation already grappling with humanitarian crises, from a sharp drop in aid to a huge pushback of its citizens from neighboring countries.

There was no confirmed death toll, health authorities said in Kabul, the capital, as rescuers raced to reach remote hamlets dotting an area with a long history of earthquakes and floods.

“Figures from just a few clinics show over 400 injured and dozens of fatalities,” ministry spokesperson Sharafat Zaman said in a statement that warned of higher casualties.

Images from Reuters Television showed helicopters ferrying out the affected, while residents helped soldiers and medics carry the wounded to ambulances.

Three villages were razed in the province of Kunar, with substantial damage in many others, the health ministry said.

Reports showed 250 dead and 500 injured, said Najibullah Hanif, the provincial information head of Kunar, adding that the tally could change.

Early reports showed 30 dead in a single village, with hundreds of injured taken to hospital, authorities said.

Rescuers were scrambling to find survivors in the area bordering Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region, where homes of mud and stone were levelled by the midnight quake that hit at a depth of 10 kilometers.

“So far, no foreign governments have reached out to provide support for rescue or relief work,” a foreign office spokesperson said.

Afghanistan is prone to deadly earthquakes, particularly in the Hindu Kush mountain range, where the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates meet.

A series of earthquakes in its west killed more than 1,000 people last year, underscoring the vulnerability of one of the world’s poorest countries to natural disasters.

SEOUL: North Korea said Monday leader Kim Jong Un inspected a new weapons factory that’s key to his plan to accelerate mass production of missiles in a weekend visit before he departs for a major military parade in China.
North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency did not disclose the location of the factory Kim visited Sunday, but it may be in Jagang province, a hub of the country’s munitions industry that borders China.
Both China and North Korea confirmed last week that Kim will make his first visit to China in six years to attend a military parade in Beijing on Wednesday, which marks the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II and China’s resistance against Japanese wartime aggression.
The 26 foreign leaders invited by Chinese President Xi Jinping also include Russia’s Vladimir Putin, who has received major wartime support from Kim in his invasion of Ukraine, making the Beijing event a show of three-way alignment against US efforts to strengthen security cooperation with South Korea and Japan.
South Korean media speculated Kim could depart for China by train sometime Monday, pointing to heightened security measures at the Chinese border town of Dandong, where rail traffic was reportedly halted and hotels stopped receiving foreign guests.
KCNA said the factory had assembly lines to speed missile production and reported that Kim praised scientists and workers and ratified plans for improvement.
South Korean officials say Kim has pushed to accelerate munitions production as he supplies Russia with large quantities of military equipment, including artillery and ballistic missiles. Kim has also sent thousands of troops since last fall to fight alongside Russian forces against Ukraine, as he prioritizes Moscow as part of a foreign policy aimed at expanding ties with nations confronting the United States.
Since aligning with Russia, North Korea has become more vocal in international affairs beyond the Korean Peninsula, issuing diplomatic statements on conflicts in the Middle East and in the Taiwan Strait, while portraying itself as a part of a united front against Washington. Some experts say Kim’s presence at the multilateral event in Beijing is part of efforts to develop partnerships with other nations close to China and Russia.
China remains North Korea’s largest trade partner and economic lifeline, and Kim’s attendance at the Beijing military parade is also seen as an attempt to showcase ties with a major ally and boost leverage ahead of a possible resumption of negotiations with Washington.
President Donald Trump and new liberal South Korean President Lee Jae Myung have repeatedly expressed their hopes to restart talks with North Korea, but the North has publicly dismissed their outreach. On Monday, South Korea said it has suspended a military-run radio broadcast into North Korea as part of steps to ease tensions. Lee’s government has already halted several other radio broadcasts containing South Korean and world news and removed front-line loudspeakers that used to blare K-pop songs, foreign news and propaganda messages across the border.
North Korea has been shunning talks with the US and South Korea since Kim’s earlier round of diplomacy with Trump collapsed in 2019 after Trump rejected Kim’s demands for major sanctions relief in exchange for partial steps toward denuclearization.