“I Saw Doomsday”: Survivors Recall Night of the Northern Afghanistan Quake

It was past midnight. The sky was silent, and the villages lay deep in sleep. Suddenly, the earth shook. The sound of crumbling walls and collapsing roofs mingled with people’s screams. Within seconds, the stillness of night turned into catastrophe.

A powerful earthquake struck the northern provinces of Balkh and Samangan. Hundreds of homes were destroyed, and thousands of families were left homeless under the cold, open sky.

Mohammad Samim, 44, a survivor from Khulm district in Samangan, lost his wife and two daughters in the earthquake. Even a week later, the shock remains. The tremors of that deadly night, the cries of his family—none of it has faded from his mind.

Samim, his voice hoarse and eyes weary, says:

“The earthquake hit around one o’clock at night. My entire house collapsed. My two daughters and wife were trapped inside the room when the roof fell and they died. God spared me and my three other children… It was a night of the apocalypse. May God never bring such a night again.”

The half-ruined walls of his house still stand—silent witnesses to the night everything fell apart. Samim recalls:

“That night, I heard the cries of my wife and little girls. They were buried under the debris. I couldn’t do anything. Their voices still echo in my ears… It torments me every moment. I wish I had died too, so I wouldn’t have to see this pain.”

He pauses often as he speaks, as if each word weighs heavily on him. Now, living in a tent with his three surviving children, he worries about their future. Winter is approaching, and life under canvas, he says, is unbearably harsh.

“Hundreds of families, including mine, are living in tents,” says Samim. “There hasn’t been enough aid for those affected by the quake. Our homes are gone, and we have no means to rebuild them. Winter is here—houses must be built.”

The earthquake was so strong that huge rocks fell from the mountains along the Balkh–Samangan road in the Tashqurghan gorge, crashing onto passing vehicles. Several passengers were killed or injured, and the road remained closed for hours.

Nearby, Homayoun, a grocery shopkeeper, witnessed the destruction of his shop and the deaths of his friends.

“My shop was near the Tashqurghan gorge,” he says. “The quake destroyed the shops. The friends who were sleeping inside their shops that night were all killed or injured. I was lucky not to be there that night.”

According to him, rebuilding homes in the devastated areas could ease the pain of the affected families to some extent.

“People who lost everything—including their family members—are waiting for help and for their homes to be rebuilt. It’s essential that financial and construction assistance reach them soon.”

The recent earthquake leveled several villages in Samangan and Balkh. Official figures report more than 30 deaths and around a thousand injuries. Hundreds of houses were fully or partially destroyed, forcing many families to live in tents or mosques in the freezing weather.

In many areas of Balkh and Samangan, entire villages have been reduced to dust, and lives buried beneath the rubble. Rebuilding may take years.

Yet Mohammad Samim has not lost hope.

“The earthquake took everything from us,” he says, “but our faith in God is still alive. We go on living… but these sorrows will never fade.”