India airlifted 21 tonnes of humanitarian assistance to earthquake-hit Afghanistan on Tuesday after a powerful Sunday night quake killed over 1,400 citizens.External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar announced on X, “Indian earthquake assistance reaches Kabul by air.”The consignment included a wide range of relief materials such as blankets, tents, hygiene kits, water storage tanks, generators, and essential medicines. The minister added that India would continue to monitor the situation and provide more assistance in the coming days.

Earthquake of magnitude 6.0 quake has injured over 3,000 people, with most casualties reported in Kunar province. India had previously extended humanitarian aid on Monday, with the Ministry of External Affairs sharing images of trucks loaded with food supplies. The earthquake, with an initial magnitude of 6.3 on the Richter scale, was followed by a series of aftershocks. The epicentre was located in the Kama district of Nangarhar Province, near the Pakistan border.Powerful tremors destroyed villages and left people trapped under collapsed houses made mostly of mud bricks and wood. The difficult terrain slowed rescue efforts, with Taliban authorities air-dropping commandos to evacuate the injured from areas where helicopters cannot land.Another earthquake measuring 5.2 on the Richter scale struck eastern Afghanistan on Tuesday, near the epicentre of Sunday’s powerful tremor, the US Geological Survey (USGS) said.The latest quake was centred 34 kilometres (21 miles) northeast of Jalalabad in Nangarhar province, the USGS added. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) has reported that around 12,000 people have been directly affected by the disaster across four provinces.