Kabul, June 24 (BNA) A senior official said today, Friday, that Afghanistan does not have enough medical supplies to treat the wounded from the earthquake that killed 1,000 people, while the authorities ended the search for survivors in the remote southeastern mountains.
About 2,000 people were injured and 10,000 homes were partially or completely destroyed in Wednesday’s earthquake, Mohammad Naseem Haqqani, a spokesman for the Ministry of Disasters, told Reuters.
“The Ministry of Health does not have enough medicines and we need medical help and other necessities because it is a big disaster,” he said.
The 6.1-magnitude earthquake struck about 160 km southeast of Kabul, near the Pakistani border, in a barren mountainous region dotted with small settlements often disputed over decades of war in Afghanistan.
Poor communications and a lack of proper roads have hampered relief efforts in a country suffering from a humanitarian crisis that deteriorated sharply after the Taliban seized power last August with the withdrawal of US-led international forces.
The disaster is a major test for the hardline Islamists, who have been largely isolated. shunned by many over human rights concerns and cut off from much direct international assistance due to sanctions.
Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and the United Arab Emirates said on Thursday they planned to send aid. Supplies from Pakistan have already crossed the border.
India, which has tense relations with the Taliban, said it had sent 27 tons of supplies on two flights for delivery to international aid agencies.
Haqqani said the search for survivors was called off about 48 hours after the disaster.
“The search process is over,” he said.
He did not explain why. People were pulled alive from the rubble of other earthquakes after a much longer time.
Large parts of South Asia are seismically active because the tectonic plate known as the Indian plate pushes north into the Eurasian plate.
In 2015, an earthquake struck remote northeastern Afghanistan, killing several hundred people in Afghanistan and neighboring northern Pakistan.