Kabul, Afghanistan ? A powerful earthquake devastated mountain villages in northern Afghanistan, where officials estimated hundreds had died and thousands more were injured in a region already hard-hit by hunger, drought and war.

Afghan government officials initially said 1,800 were killed, but aid agencies estimated early today that the death toll was much lower. Ros O’Sullivan, project coordinator from Concern Worldwide, said aid workers believe 200 people were killed in the town of Nahrin and surrounding villages in the Hindu Kush mountains.

The toll could go somewhat higher, he said, but was not expected to exceed “the low hundreds.” That conclusion was reached Tuesday night during a meeting of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the International Organization for Migration, Medecins Sans Frontieres, Concern Worldwide, and other relief groups working at the scene.

However, the Afghan military commander from the Baglan region said the Monday night quake collapsed 20,000 mud-brick houses. Gen. Haider Khan estimated between 600 and 1,000 people remained trapped and said the death toll could hit 2,000.

O’Sullivan said aid agencies estimated that up to 30,000 people were homeless, as aftershocks continued to jolt the majestic Hindu Kush mountains that tower above Kabul and separate the capital from the extreme north of the country.

There were fears of landslides as the earth continued to heave after the Monday night quake, which was centered about 105 miles north of Kabul.

No Americans or foreigners were known to be among the missing or dead. Brig. Gen. John Rosa Jr. told a Pentagon briefing that no coalition forces were hurt by the quake.

The old part of Nahrin town was leveled and some 40 other villages on Nahrin plain were affected, prompting aid groups to gear up to provide shelter for 6,000 to 7,000 families in that area alone, U.N. spokesman Manoel de Alemida e Silva said.

“These people were hit by 20 years of war, three to four years of drought and now comes the earthquake,” said Mirielle Borne, an aid worker with the independent agency ACTED who arrived in the stricken town as night fell Tuesday.

“It just keeps piling up. They just take it as it comes. It’s a matter of holding on to the next day.”