A magnitude 6.0 earthquake struck eastern Afghanistan on the night of August 31, 2025 and, according to ADRA, the humanitarian agency of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, left more than 2,200 dead, about 3,600 injured, and affected around 500,000 people in the mountainous provinces along the border with Pakistan.
The quake did not come alone. At almost the same time, monsoon floods were devastating areas of Pakistan and India, forming what the agency's coordination described as a crisis on top of another crisis. Facing this situation, ADRA mobilized assessment and response teams in the three countries to bring shelter, food, medical support, and hygiene items to affected families.
What happened
According to ADRA and the Adventist Review, a magnitude 6.0 earthquake shook eastern Afghanistan on August 31, 2025. According to the agency, the toll surpassed 2,200 dead, about 3,600 injured, and approximately 500,000 people affected. ADRA also reports that more than 6,700 homes collapsed in the hardest-hit areas.
The epicenter concentrated the damage in the provinces of Nangarhar, Kunar, Nuristan, and Laghman, a region of narrow valleys and hard-to-reach villages. The agency reports that two strong aftershocks again shook the area between September 4 and 5, complicating relief efforts and heightening fear among survivors.
One crisis on top of another
The earthquake added to an already dire situation in the region. According to ADRA, monsoon floods in the Pakistani province of Punjab left at least 892 dead and affected 3.9 million people, with thousands of homes damaged, bridges destroyed, and roads swept away by the water.
In India, the agency records more than 520 dead across several states, including Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, and Jammu and Kashmir, hit by landslides that swallowed homes, crops, and livelihoods. For ADRA's coordination, it is a succession of emergencies striking, at the same time, entire populations of South Asia.
The numbers of the tragedy
Taken together, the data released by ADRA outline the scale of the disaster. In Afghanistan, there are more than 2,200 dead, about 3,600 injured, and 500,000 affected. In Pakistan, at least 892 dead and 3.9 million people affected. In India, more than 520 dead.
The agency stresses that the most vulnerable are among those who suffer the most: women, children, internally displaced people, and families who had recently returned to the country. These are groups that, even before the quake, were already living in fragile conditions and now face winter without a home.
Read alsoADRA responds to earthquake that devastated central MyanmarWhat ADRA is doing
According to the agency, assessment teams arrived early in the affected zones to gauge the needs. In Afghanistan, the list of priorities includes food, shelter materials, tents, winter clothing, household utensils, and hygiene items. ADRA itself acknowledges that a large-scale response runs into challenges of access, coordination gaps, and lack of resources.
In Pakistan, ADRA reports having prioritized emergency shelter, food, mosquito nets, medical support, and hygiene kits, with a focus on the Sialkot area, one of the hardest hit. In India, according to the agency, more than a thousand families in the Mandi and Kullu districts have already received shelter kits, hygiene kits, blankets, and cash transfers. This kind of disaster relief usually combines immediate aid with support for families' recovery.
What this means for Adventist youth work
ADRA (Adventist Development and Relief Agency) is the official humanitarian arm of the Seventh-day Adventist Church and operates in more than a hundred countries, responding to emergencies and running long-term development projects. For Pathfinders, following an operation like this is not distant news: it is the global expression of a value the Club puts into practice.
Service to others is a central part of the Pathfinder's identity. Honors related to first aid, rescue, and community action, along with the very ideal of always being ready to help, connect the Club's routine to the same spirit that drives ADRA's teams in South Asia. It is Youth Ministry in motion: faith translated into outstretched hands.
The region's backdrop
Eastern Afghanistan sits over an active seismic zone, at the meeting of tectonic plates that make the border with Pakistan one of the most earthquake-prone areas in the world. The predominant stone-and-mud construction, common in mountain villages, worsens the number of victims when the ground shakes, because the houses collapse on the residents.
The monsoons that battered Pakistan and India, in turn, are part of an annual cycle of intense rains that, in extreme years, causes large-scale floods and landslides. The combination of earthquake and monsoon within the same span of days helps explain why ADRA described the moment as an overlapping crisis, requiring a simultaneous response on several fronts.