The number of casualties is expected to rise as search and effort missions continue
A powerful earthquake has killed at least 1,000 people and injured 1,500 in mountainous region eastern Afghanistan in the country’s deadliest quake in two decades, local officials said.
The magnitude 5.9 earthquake had its epicenter in Paktika province around 46 kilometers (28.5 miles) southwest of the city of Khost, which lies close to the country’s border with Pakistan, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS). The depth was reported at just 10 kilometers (6 miles) described as one of the factors that led to severe destruction.
Most of the deaths were in Paktika province, in the districts of Giyan, Nika, Barmal and Zirok, according to the State Ministry for Disaster Management.
The death toll currently stands at more than 1,000 and at least 1,500 people have been injured. However, the number of casualties is expected to rise as search and effort missions continue in remote regions.
Photographs and videos showed houses flattened to rubble and men carrying people in blankets to waiting rescue helicopters.
The Taliban government have appealed for international help for the rescue effort as the country is facing the calamity amid worst humanitarian and economic crisis. Taliban’s supreme leader, Haibatullah Akhundzadah, called for “the international community and all humanitarian organizations to help the Afghan people affected by this great tragedy and to spare no effort to help the affected people.”
Search and rescue operations were underway in Afghanistan’s Paktika and Khost provinces, the United Nations’ emergency response agency said, but they were hampered by wind and heavy rain, with casualties expected to rise.
An estimated 2,000 homes have been destroyed by the deadly earthquake in Afghanistan, the UN’s humanitarian coordinator for Afghanistan Ramiz Alakbarov told reporters.
U.N. agencies and international aid organizations have rushed in relief supplies and ambulances to assist the affected people and also deployed health teams and sent medicines to the affected areas, along with blankets, tents. The World Health Organization said on Twitter that a shipment of about 10 tons of medical supplies was on the way.
UNHCR has deployed staff to the most affected areas in Pakitika and Khost provinces from its field office in Gardez. “It is heart-breaking to see this tragedy unfolding in Afghanistan on top of the ongoing humanitarian crisis that Afghans are going through every day,” said Filippo Grandi, UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
The Afghan Red Crescent, which has more than 30,000 volunteers and a branch in each of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces, has mobilized staff and volunteers to respond to the unfolding crisis and address the urgent needs on the ground.
Afghanistan is going through a dire humanitarian crisis with some 3.5 million people locally displaced. Millions are facing rising levels of poverty and hunger.
