A powerful earthquake struck eastern Afghanistan late on Sunday, killing at least 600 people and injuring more than 1,000, local media reported, as officials warned the toll could rise in remote mountainous areas.

The 6.3-magnitude quake hit at 11:47 p.m. local time near Nangarhar province, about 27 km northeast of Jalalabad, at a shallow depth of eight kilometers, the U.S. Geological Survey said. Shaking was felt as far away as Pakistan, India, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, with aftershocks rattling New Delhi and parts of Pakistan.

Afghanistan’s government said 250 people had been confirmed dead and 500 injured, while state broadcaster Radio Television Afghanistan (RTA) put the toll at more than 600 killed and 1,000 injured. The discrepancy could not be immediately reconciled.

Rescue operations were hampered by landslides and damaged infrastructure in Kunar province, where heavy rains and flooding earlier this month had already battered roads and villages. The defense ministry said it dispatched 30 doctors and 800 kg of medical supplies to the affected area. Taliban minister for disaster management, Mullah Nooruddin Turabi, traveled to the region to oversee relief efforts.

Hospitals in nearby towns reported being overwhelmed by the influx of casualties. “The number of wounded is rising every hour,” a provincial health official told Press, asking not to be named because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

Afghanistan sits on the seismically active Hindu Kush region at the junction of the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates, making it prone to devastating earthquakes. In October 2023, a 6.3-magnitude tremor in western Afghanistan killed nearly 2,000 people.