STORY: People in Afghanistan’s Samangan province were seen shovelling through debris next to collapsed houses on Monday (November 3) after a 6.3-magnitude earthquake struck the country’s north.

The quake struck near the northern Afghan city of Mazar-e Sharif early on Monday, killing at least 20 people, injuring hundreds and damaging the city's historic Blue Mosque, authorities said, with the death toll likely to rise.

The disaster is the latest challenge for war-torn Afghanistan's Taliban administration, already grappling with crises including an August quake that killed thousands, a sharp drop in foreign aid and mass deportations of Afghan refugees by neighboring countries.

Afghanistan is particularly vulnerable to quakes as it lies on two active faults that have the potential to rupture and cause extensive damage. More than 2,200 people were killed and thousands more injured after a quake and strong aftershocks in the southeast of the war-shattered Islamic country at the end of August.

DESCRIPCIÓN DE IMÁGENES

VIDEO SHOWS: PEOPLE DIGGING WITH SHOVELS THROUGH EARTHQUAKE RUBBLE / DAMAGED HOUSES / SOUNDBITES FROM SURVIVORS

RESENDING WITH COMPLETE SCRIPT

SHOWS: TASHQURGHAN DISTRICT, SAMANGAN PROVINCE, AFGHANISTAN (NOVEMBER 3, 2025) (REUTERS - Access all)

1. DAMAGED HOUSE, RUBBLE

2. VARIOUS OF PEOPLE DIGGING THROUGH RUBBLE

3. RUBBLE

4. DAMAGED BUILDING WITH COLLAPSED WALL

5. BOYS LOOKING AT DAMAGED BUILDING

6. MEN STANDING BESIDE DAMAGED BUILDING

7. MAN STANDING ATOP PARTIALLY DAMAGED BUILDING

8. (SOUNDBITE) (Dari) EARTHQUAKE SURVIVOR, MOHAMMAD RAHIM, SAYING:

“The earthquake started around 1 a.m. (GMT 2030, November 2). It shook so violently that we couldn’t even open the door. We tried three times to unlock it, but the shaking was too strong to manage. It lasted for about 15 seconds, and when we finally got outside, there was so much dust in the air that we couldn’t see anything. My mother was trapped under the wooden beams of the roof, and my brother was buried under the rubble. With the help of the villagers and young men from our village, thank God, we managed to rescue them. They are now in the hospital.”

9. BAGS OF FRUIT AMID RUBBLE

10. SHOE AMID RUBBLE

11. DAMAGED HOUSE / BROKEN DOOR FRAME / RUBBLE

12. DAMAGED HOUSE / RUBBLE

13. PEOPLE STANDING NEAR RUBBLE / DAMAGED HOUSE

14. PEOPLE STANDING NEAR DAMAGED HOUSE / CRACKS ON WALL

15. (SOUNDBITE) (Dari) EARTHQUAKE SURVIVOR, HUMAYON JAN, SAYING:

“I rescued my brother’s wife along with the rest of the family, but one of us was missing. I searched desperately to find him, and later realised that he was trapped under the rubble. Unfortunately, he had passed away, he had just recently gotten married.”

16. PEOPLE WALKING PAST TOPPLED ELECTRIC POLE

17. DAMAGED HOUSE

18. PEOPLE STANDING AMID RUBBLE

19. RUBBLE