Afghan earthquake survivors hunt loved ones, pull planks from rubble for graves

FILE PHOTO: Afghan men stand on top of a damaged house following a deadly magnitude-6 earthquake that struck Afghanistan on Sunday, in Mazar Dara, Kunar province, Afghanistan, September 2, 2025. REUTERS/Sayed Hassib/ File Photo

MAZAR DARA, Afghanistan (Reuters) -Mir Salam Khan mourns the loss of his wife and three children in Afghanistan’s mountainous eastern province of Kunar, hit by an earthquake of magnitude 6 that crumbled thousands of homes.

"We buried them with wooden planks and plastic sheets so the soil would not fall directly on the bodies," said the 65-year-old resident of the village of Mazar Dara. "That was all we could do."