No fewer than 1000 persons have been killed in a powerful earthquake that struck a remote border region of Afghanistan, Patkika to be precise, while a thousand five hundred more were reportedly injured.

Officials  have on Wednesday said the toll is expected to rise as rescuers dig through collapsed dwellings.

The 5.9 magnitude quake struck hardest in the rugged terrain of the east, where people already lived hardscrabble lives in a country in the grip of a humanitarian disaster made worse by the Taliban takeover in August.

“According to the information, the number of earthquake victims so far in the provinces of Paktika and Khost has reached 1000 dead and 500 injured,” tweeted, government spokesman, Mohammad Naeem.

Earlier, another spokesman told newsmen that many houses were damaged and people were still trapped inside.

Yaqub Manzor, a tribal leader from Paktika province, said survivors were mobilising to help those affected.

“The local markets are closed and all the people have rushed to the affected areas,” he told reporters by telephone.

In remote areas, helicopters have been ferrying victims to hospitals.

Speaking to the BBC, a doctor from one of the worst hit districts in Paktika province said medical workers were among the victims.

“We didn’t have enough people and facilities before the earthquake, and now the earthquake has ruined the little we had,” they said. “I don’t know how many of our colleagues are still alive.”

Photographs and video clips posted on social media showed badly damaged mud houses in remote rural areas.

Even before the Taliban takeover, Afghanistan’s emergency response teams were stretched to deal with the natural disasters that frequently struck the country.

But with only a handful of airworthy planes and helicopters, an immediate response is often limited.

Afghanistan is frequently hit by earthquakes, especially in the Hindu Kush mountain range, which lies near the junction of the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates.

Scores of people were killed and injured in January when two quakes struck rural areas in the western province of Badghis, damaging hundreds of buildings.

In 2015, more than 380 people were killed in Pakistan and Afghanistan when a 7.5-magnitude earthquake ripped across the two countries, with the bulk of the deaths in Pakistan.

The latest earthquake comes at a time when Afghanistan is battling a severe humanitarian disaster, worsened by the Taliban takeover of the country.