Afghan earthquake kills 800, injures at least 2,800

One of Afghanistan's worst earthquakes killed more than 800 people and injured at least 2,800, authorities said on Monday, as helicopters ferried the wounded to hospital after they were plucked from the rubble of homes being combed for survivors, reports Reuters.

The disaster is set to further stretch the resources of the war-torn nation's Taliban administration, already grappling with humanitarian crises, from a sharp drop in aid to the pushback of hundreds of thousands of Afghans by neighbouring countries.

Sharafat Zaman, the spokesperson for the health ministry in Kabul, called for international aid to tackle the devastation from the quake of magnitude 6 that struck around midnight, at a depth of 10 km (6 miles).

"We need it because here lots of people lost their lives and houses," he told Reuters.

The quake killed 812 people in the eastern provinces of Kunar and Nangarhar, said administration spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid.

Rescuers were battling to reach remote mountainous areas cut off from mobile networks along the Pakistani border, where mudbrick homes dotting the slopes collapsed in the quake.

"All our ... teams have been mobilised to accelerate assistance, so that comprehensive and full support can be provided," said health ministry spokesperson Abdul Maten Qanee, citing efforts in areas from security to food and health.

Reuters Television images showed helicopters ferrying out the affected, while residents helped security forces and medics carry the wounded to ambulances in an area with a long history of earthquakes and floods.

Military rescue teams fanned out across the region, the defence ministry said in a statement, with 40 flights carrying away 420 wounded and dead.

The quake razed three villages in Kunar, with substantial damage in many others, authorities said.