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The Unit­ed Na­tions warned of an ex­po­nen­tial rise in ca­su­al­ties from a ma­jor earth­quake in east­ern Afghanistan, as the Tal­iban said the death toll passed 1,400 on Tues­day, with more than 3,000 peo­ple in­jured.

The fig­ures pro­vid­ed by Tal­iban gov­ern­ment spokesman Zabi­hul­lah Mu­jahid were just for the province of Ku­nar.

Sun­day night’s pow­er­ful 6.0 mag­ni­tude earth­quake struck sev­er­al provinces, caus­ing ex­ten­sive dam­age. It flat­tened vil­lages and trapped peo­ple un­der the rub­ble of homes con­struct­ed most­ly of mud bricks and wood that were un­able to with­stand the shock.