Ghayan, Afghanistan, June 23 (BNA) A strong earthquake hit a rugged mountainous region in eastern Afghanistan early Wednesday morning, flattening stone and brick homes and killing at least 1,000 people. The disaster posed a new test for Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers and aid agencies already reeling from the country’s multiple humanitarian crises.
It was the deadliest earthquake in Afghanistan in two decades and officials said the death toll could rise. Reuters reported, citing the state news agency, that an estimated 1,500 others were injured.
The disaster triggered by the 6.1-magnitude earthquake has exacerbated misery in a country where millions face growing hunger and poverty and the health system has been collapsing since the Taliban regained power nearly 10 months ago amid the US and NATO withdrawal. The takeover cut vital international funding, and most of the world shunned the Taliban government.
In a rare move, the Taliban’s supreme leader, Haibatullah Akhundzadeh, who has almost never appeared in public, appealed to the international community and humanitarian organizations to “help the Afghan people affected by this great tragedy and spare no effort”.
Residents of a remote area near the Pakistani border searched for victims alive or dead by digging with their bare hands among the rubble, the Bakhtar news agency showed. It was not immediately clear whether heavy rescue equipment had been sent or if it could reach the area.
At least 2,000 homes have been destroyed in the area, with each family having an average of seven or eight people, said Ramez Alakbarov, deputy special representative of the United Nations in Afghanistan.
The full extent of the destruction among the villages tucked into the mountains was slow to emerge. The roads, which were tattered and difficult to walk in the best of conditions, may have been badly damaged, and landslides caused by recent rains have made them more difficult to access.
Rescuers rushed by helicopter, but relief efforts could be hampered by the mass exodus of many international aid agencies from Afghanistan after the Taliban seized power last August. Moreover, most governments are wary of dealing directly with the Taliban.
Referring to the muddled business between the Taliban and the rest of the world, Alakbarov said the Taliban had not formally asked the United Nations to mobilize international search and rescue teams or obtain equipment from neighboring countries to supplement a few dozen ambulances and several ambulances. Helicopters sent by the Afghan authorities.
However, officials from several UN agencies said the Taliban are giving them full access to the area.
The neighboring Pakistan Meteorological Department said the epicenter of the quake was in Paktika province, about 50 km southwest of the city of Khost. Experts have determined its depth to be only 10 kilometers (6 miles). Shallow earthquakes tend to cause more damage.
The European Seismological Agency said 119 million people felt the quake more than 500 km away in Afghanistan, Pakistan and India.
Footage from Paktika showed men carrying people in blankets to a waiting helicopter. Other victims were treated on the floor. One person was seen receiving intravenous fluids while sitting on a plastic chair outside the ruins of his home, more still on stretchers. Some photos showed residents picking out mud bricks and other debris. Ceilings and walls collapsed.
The death toll reported by Bakhtar News Agency was equal to the death toll from the 2002 earthquake in northern Afghanistan. It is the deadliest since 1998, when a 6.1-magnitude earthquake and subsequent tremors in the remote northeastern region killed at least 4,500 people.
Wednesday’s earthquake occurred in an area prone to landslides with many old and weaker buildings.
“The fear is that the casualties will increase more, because many people may be trapped under the collapsed buildings,” said Stefano Souza, the Afghan director of the Italian Medical Aid Group, which has sent seven ambulances and two workers to areas close to the quake zone. .
More than 60% of Afghanistan’s 38 million people already depend on international aid to survive.
Humanitarian agencies still operating in the country, including UNICEF, rushed supplies to the earthquake-stricken areas. Pakistan said it would send food, tents, blankets and other necessities.
Getting more direct international assistance may be more difficult: Many countries, including the United States, funnel humanitarian aid into Afghanistan through the United Nations and other similar organizations to avoid putting money in the hands of the Taliban.
Shelley Thracral said the earthquake “will only add to the massive humanitarian needs in Afghanistan, and all hands need to be on board to make sure we really reduce the suffering that families are going through, that women and children are already going through,” a spokesperson for the UN World Food Program United in Kabul.
In the capital, Prime Minister Mohamed Hassan Akhund held an emergency meeting at the presidential palace.
“When such a major accident occurs in any country, assistance from other countries is needed,” said Sharafuddin Muslim, Deputy Minister of State for Disaster Management. “It’s very difficult for us to be able to respond to this huge incident.”
This may be difficult given the international isolation of Afghanistan under the rule of the Taliban, which was ousted by the United States in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. The newly restored government issued a series of decrees restricting the rights of women, girls, and the media in a return to harsh Taliban rule in the late 1990s.
“This adds a lot to the daily burden of survival,” the UN chief said of the quake. “We are not optimistic today.”