PESHAWAR, Pakistan — In Afghanistan, a devastating 6.0-magnitude earthquake has led to the deaths of at least 250 individuals and injured over 500, as reported by Taliban officials on Monday.

The U.S. Geological Survey noted that the quake occurred 17 miles from Jalalabad, near the Pakistan border, at around midnight local time (3:30 p.m. ET Sunday).

Due to the earthquake impacting a secluded mountainous region, “obtaining precise information regarding human casualties and infrastructure damage will require time,” stated Sharafat Zaman, a representative for Afghanistan’s Public Health Ministry.

“We have launched a massive rescue operation and mobilized hundreds of people to help people in the affected areas,” Zaman said.

Following the initial tremor, at least five aftershocks with magnitudes between 4.5 and 5.2 were recorded in the vicinity on Monday, according to the USGS.

Aftershocks can last for days and can sometimes be worse than the first quake.

Afghanistan’s geographical position makes it particularly susceptible to earthquakes, as it lies on the intersection of the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates. The eastern part of Afghanistan, with its mountainous landscape, also faces the threat of landslides, complicating rescue missions.

This quake was especially devastating as it hit at a shallow depth of 5 miles, making it far more destructive even at moderate magnitude.

In 2022, around 1,000 people were killed and thousands more were injured when a 5.9-magnitude earthquake hit eastern Afghanistan.

That, too, was a shallow quake.

In the preceding year, the western province of Herat in Afghanistan experienced a series of three 6.3-magnitude earthquakes in a single week, leading to the deaths of approximately 1,500 people as per U.N. reports.

Monday’s quake comes at a challenging time for Afghanistan, one of the world’s poorest countries, which is suffering from four consecutive years of drought and the influx of over 2.3 million Afghans who have returned from Iran and Pakistan this year.

“Below-average first and second season crop production and reduced livestock income limit their ability to stock food for the winter,” the Famine Early Warning Systems Network, which was established by the United States Agency for International Development, said in a report last week.

Mushtaq Yusufzai reported from Peshawar and Mithil Aggarwal from Hong Kong.