Afghanistan earthquake kills at least 1,000

The death toll from an earthquake in Afghanistan on Wednesday hit 1,000, disaster management officials said, with more than 600 injured and the toll expected to grow as information trickles in from remote mountain villages.

Houses were reduced to rubble and bodies swathed in blankets lay on the ground after the magnitude 6.1 earthquake jolted Afghanistan. An unknown number of people remained stuck under rubble and in outlying areas. Health and aid workers said rescue operations were complicated by difficult conditions including rains, landslides and many villages being nestled in inaccessible hillside areas.

The disaster posed a major test for Afghanistan's Taliban government, which seized power nearly 10 months ago as the US and its NATO allies were carrying out their withdrawal from the country and has been largely shunned by the world community since.

Expressing anguish at the loss of lives and devastation caused by an earthquake in Afghanistan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Wednesday that India is ready to provide all possible disaster relief material at the earliest.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday called for solidarity from the international community to help families in Afghanistan are already reeling from the impact of years of conflict, economic hardship, and hunger.