At least 622 people were killed and more than 1,500 injured in an earthquake that struck eastern Afghanistan, authorities said Monday, as helicopters ferried the wounded to safety from rubble being combed in the 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 push back of its citizens from neighboring countries.
The quake of magnitude 6 injured more than 1,500, the Taliban-run Afghan interior ministry said in a statement that put the death toll at 622. Earlier state-run broadcaster Radio Television Afghanistan put the toll at about 500.
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