The Taliban government is using helicopters to try and reach communities hit by the earthquake, issuing footage showing one rescue.

As we've been reporting, the places affected are very difficult to access by road.

Yogita Limaye
South Asia and Afghanistan correspondent, in Kabul

The terrain in the Kunar and Nangarhar provinces which have been affected by the earthquake is mountainous.

At the best of times, villages in the areas are not easy to access: roads are often really mud tracks winding around mountains. Homes in these areas are made of clay, stones and mud - not permanent, solid structures which can withstand an earthquake.

The quake occurred at night, when people were indoors and asleep. Masses are feared trapped under the rubble.

Afghanistan is no stranger to earthquakes as it sits on a number of fault lines. In 2023, a series of quakes in the Herat province killed more than 1,000 people. In 2022, Paktika province was struck by a quake which also killed more than 1,000.

During both those quakes, we saw the death toll jump up steeply once access to the affected areas was established.

The Jalalabad hospital is the biggest medical facility close to the epicentre. I went last year and even when not dealing with a disaster it was overwhelmed, receiving more than a thousand patients a day.

It's hard to imagine how it will cope with hundreds more injured because of the earthquake.

Hafizullah Maroof
BBC Afghan Service

Image source, Health ministry

Dr Muladad couldn’t sleep the whole night as he had to lead his staff to treat a wave of patients. He is the head of the provincial hospital in Asadabad, the provincial capital of Kunar.

He says they are admitting “one patient every five minutes” and the whole hospital is full of injured people.

According to him,188 injured people - including women and children - were brought to the hospital in the last few hours, with patients having to lie on the ground after bed space ran out.

Dr Muladad described the situation as a “crisis” he would never have expected and declared an emergency at the hospital.

Nearly 250 injured people have been taken to the main hospital in neighbouring Nangahar province.

Four dead bodies have been taken to his hospital so far, says Dr Muladad, who adds that dozens of bodies were taken to other local clinics.

The Taliban interior ministry has released a statement detailing where it says people have been killed.

It puts the number of deaths in Kunar at 610, with a further 12 deaths in Nangarhar, taking the death toll issued by Taliban officials to 622 people. It says more than 1,500 have been injured.

However, details are still emerging and these numbers could change, especially given the remoteness of the impacted area and difficulty for international aid organisations to reach it.

Yogita Limaye
South Asia & Afghanistan correspondent

It will take a while before the extent of the earthquake's damage is fully known.

This is mountainous terrain. These areas are extremely challenging to reach even in the best of times, which is really hampering rescue and relief operations.

We've been told that the road leading to the epicentre has been blocked because of a landslide, so the Taliban government is using helicopters to get people out.

With the region being difficult to access, any kind of rescue operations are going to be slow-moving.

A 6.0 magnitude earthquake struck Afghanistan's mountainous eastern region at 23:47 local time on Sunday (20:17 BST).

Its epicentre was 17 miles (27km) away from Jalalabad, the country's fifth-largest city in Afghanistan’s eastern Nangarhar province.

The earthquake has also affected the Kunar and Laghman provinces, and was felt 140km (87 miles) away in the country's capital Kabul.

The Taliban interior ministry is now reporting that the death toll from the earthquake in eastern Afghanistan is 610.

More than 1,300 people have been injured, the ministry says.

A 6.0-magnitude earthquake struck eastern Afghanistan just before midnight local time on Sunday. Information about fatalities and damage is still emerging - here is what we know so far.

• The earthquake's epicentre was 27km (17miles) away from Jalalabad, Afghanistan's fifth-largest city, and around 140km (87 miles) from the capital Kabul
• Officials tell the BBC that houses were reduced to rubble in areas close to Afghanistan's border with Pakistan
• The area is mountainous with limited communications, which means information is emerging slowly
• But local officials have told BBC News they fear the death toll will be in the hundreds
• As aftershocks continue, rescue efforts are being complicated by the region's narrow mountain roads, some of which have been blocked by landslides
• Officials from the Taliban-run government have requested aid from international organisations
• The earthquake occurred at a shallow depth, making it more destructive

This is a developing situation and we will bring you more information as we get it.

The Taliban government has just put out a statement on X saying the earthquake has caused "loss of life and property damage in some of our eastern provinces".

"Local officials and residents are currently engaged in rescue efforts for the affected people. Support teams from the centre and nearby provinces are also on their way," the statement adds.

• For context: Our reporter in Afghanistan has been speaking with multiple sources in Kunar province, which was badly hit in the quake. All of them have told them that “hundreds are dead” and many more are injured.

We've just heard from the public health ministry, which has said they don't have clear casualty figures as the affected area has limited mobile phone signal coverage.

According to preliminary information, 330 people have been injured in the provinces of Laghman and Nangarhar. Eighty were injured in Laghman and 250 in Nangarhar, the ministry said.

The figures for Kunar province are even higher and the area has been severely affected, the ministry said.

The BBC learned earlier that 20 people died and 35 were wounded in a village in Kunar province.

More updates now from the Taliban government, who say that they have deployed helicopters to transport the injured to Nangarhar Airport.

From the airport, the injured are then moved to regional hospitals by ambulance for treatment.

The government says all civilian and military officials are being involved in disaster response.

We've just heard from the health ministry, which released a statement on what they know about the casualties.

"Unconfirmed reports indicate that nearly 30 people from one village have been killed, but so far there are no exact figures regarding the casualties," health ministry spokesperson Sharafat Zaman said in the statement.

Three villages were "completely destroyed and suffered heavy damage", he added.

"Some of the injured have been evacuated, and victims trapped under collapsed houses have been recovered," he said, adding that search and rescue efforts are still underway in the area.

"The numbers of the injured and the dead are likely higher, but since the area has limited access and communication, our teams are still on the ground. Once accurate figures are collected, God willing, we will share them with you," he said.

Here is more video from Nangarhar airport where disaster response efforts are in full swing.

The region struck by Sunday evening's quake was already reeling from flash floods over the weekend.

Floods swept the provinces of Nangarhar and Kunar between Friday and Saturday, killing at least five people, according to local media.

At least 400 families were affected, the International Organization for Migration said on Sunday.

The flood, which caused landslides and damaged infrastructure, also temporarily disrupted traffic between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Hafizullah Maroof
BBC Afghan Service

In Sawkai district, Kunar province, 20 people have died and 35 are wounded in one village. Residents are pulling out bodies from the rubble, the BBC has learned.

In a video seen by the BBC, dozens of residents have gathered in an open area, surrounded by the mountains. Injured people are carried on stretchers, while children lie on the ground wrapped in blankets for warmth.

Yogita Limaye
South Asia and Afghanistan correspondent

In Kabul, we were jolted awake by the quake a little before midnight. The shaking went on for quite a few seconds.

From early this morning we have been getting reports of destruction and the loss of life from the mountainous Kunar province in eastern Afghanistan where the quake's epicentre is.

Local sources have told us that because of landslides caused by the earthquake, vehicluar access to the epicentre is cut off, and it can only be reached by foot. Several aftershocks have also occured all through the night and early this morning.

This is also why it will take a long time to assess the scale of the impact. I've been in that area before and even without an earthquake, the terrain is difficult to navigate.

This earthquake is another cruel shock for the people of Afghanistan, already reeling under severe drought, aid cuts, and what the World Food Programme describes as an unprecedented crisis of hunger.

Here are scenes from the ongoing earthquake response in Afghanistan where the Taliban government is trying to send in help to affected areas.

With roads blocked by landslides, rescue operations can only be carried out by air

Image source, Taliban Government

Image source, Taliban government

Image source, Taliban government

Image source, Taliban government

Hafizullah Maroof
BBC Afghan Service

I spoke to multiple sources in Kunar province, which was badly hit. All of them told me that “hundreds are dead” and many more are injured.

A Taliban figure who is organising efforts to transport dead bodies by helicopters said that in one village 21 people have died and 35 are injured.

Even now, aftershocks are being felt in many districts of the province, he added.

Another Kunar province official said the "number of deaths is horrible".

But at this stage, nobody can provide exact figures as the affected areas are remote and hard to reach.

Mobile networks are not working in some areas, while in other parts roads have been cut off by landslides and flooding.

Here are scenes from Afghanistan's Nangarhar Airport where Taliban government officials are deploying helicopters to airlift injured people in the remote Kunar province to hospitals.

Thank you for joining us as we bring you the latest from Afghanistan, where many are feared dead after an earthquake struck the country's mountainous eastern region. Here's what we know so far:

• A 6.0-magnitude earthquake struck at 23:47 local time (20:17 BST) on Sunday. The quake was shallow, with a depth of 8km (5 miles)
• The earthquake's epicentre was 27km (17 miles) away from Jalalabad, the country's fifth-largest city

• More than 20 people have died in the provinces of Nangarhar and Kunar, and more than 115 have been injured, local officials told the BBC
• It's been hard to confirm the actual death toll due to how remote the affected areas are. Taliban government officials tell the BBC that "hundreds" are believed to have been killed or injured - but this has not been confirmed

• With roads blocked by landslides, the police in Kunar province tells the BBC that rescue operations can only be carried out by air
• The Taliban government has appealed for urgent help from international aid organisations
• Helicopters carrying medical staff have arrived in Kunar province to treat and transport the wounded. Meanwhile in Nangahar province, dozens of volunteers have rushed to hospitals to donate blood

We'll continue to bring you more updates as we get them - stick with us.