Afghanistan: Earthquake kills more than 1,000, villagers desperately dig for survivors

Rescue teams are currently engaged in a mission to find survivors following a devastating earthquake that has leveled entire villages in Afghanistan, resulting in the tragic loss of over 1,000 lives.

The earthquake, measuring 6.3-magnitude, occurred on Saturday morning in Herat province, an area characterized by a desolate landscape with mud brick houses scattered throughout.

In a desperate effort, villagers are employing shovels and their bare hands to search for over 500 individuals who are currently unaccounted for, as reported by the United Nations (UN).

The delivery of aid has been delayed due to blocked routes and disrupted communication lines, with assistance only beginning to trickle in on Monday.

Concerns are mounting that the death toll could escalate even further.

The epicenter of the quake was in Zindajan, a rural district situated approximately 40 kilometers (25 miles) from Herat city.

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), “100% of homes are estimated to have been completely destroyed” in this region.

Distressing images from the affected villages depict entire houses, ill-equipped to withstand such a powerful quake, reduced to rubble.

Nek Mohammad, a resident, shared his harrowing experience: “We came home and saw there was nothing left. Everything had turned to mud. We started to dig with shovels and whatever we had to rescue women and children from the rubble.”

The Taliban government and humanitarian organizations initially faced challenges in determining the precise death toll and the number of individuals still missing, primarily due to the lack of population records for these remote villages.

Furthermore, the area is home to communities displaced by both war and drought, further complicating efforts to ascertain the exact population figures.

Local hospitals, which are ill-equipped to handle such a catastrophe, are struggling to accommodate the injured, whose numbers have now exceeded 1,600.

The UN reports that a majority of the earthquake survivors receiving treatment are women and children, and according to doctors, women and children also constitute a significant portion of the deceased.

The Taliban government has urgently called for provisions such as food, clean water, medicine, clothing, and tents for shelter for the quake survivors.

Several aid organizations, including the Afghan Red Cross Society, MSF, the World Food Programme, and Unicef, have dispatched assistance, but they stress that the financially strained country requires more aid.

Afghanistan is susceptible to earthquakes, particularly in the Hindu Kush mountain range, due to its proximity to the junction of the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates.

In June last year, the province of Paktika experienced a 5.9 magnitude earthquake, resulting in the loss of more than 1,000 lives and leaving tens of thousands of people homeless.

Source-BBC