At least 800 people have been killed and more than 1,300 others injured in Afghanistan after a 6.0-magnitude earthquake hit the country, Taliban officials said Monday.

The earthquake struck 17 miles from the eastern city of Jalalabad, near the border with Pakistan, at around midnight local time (3:30 p.m. ET Sunday), according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

Because the earthquake hit a remote mountainous area, “it will take time to get the exact information about human losses and damage to the infrastructure,” said Sharafat Zaman, a spokesperson for the Afghan Public Health Ministry.

“We have launched a massive rescue operation and mobilized hundreds of people to help people in the affected areas,” Zaman said.

He called for international aid to tackle the devastation, which left rescue teams battling to reach remote areas and loved ones searching desperately through the rubble of homes.

Construction quality is poor in rural Afghanistan, where buildings are often made of mud bricks and wood. Videos showed collapsed homes and rescuers combing for survivors. Injured people from these remote areas were seen being lifted on gurneys onto helicopters.

Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said the death toll had risen to 800 people. Earlier, Interior Ministry spokesperson Mufti Abdul Matin Qani had said 622 people had been confirmed dead and more than 1,300 injured in the eastern provinces of Nangarhar, which includes Jalalabad and Kunar.

The ministry said that 1,000 injured people had been evacuated and admitted to hospitals.

A United Nations team was mobilized, Secretary-General António Guterres said in a post on X. Several U.N. organizations, including the Children's Fund, the World Health Organization, Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and the International Organization for Migration, said on X that they were providing emergency assistance.