Image: Reuters Berita 24 English - Disaster management officials reported that a 6.1-magnitude earthquake struck Afghanistan early on Wedne...
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| Image: Reuters |
Berita 24 English - Disaster management officials reported that a 6.1-magnitude earthquake struck Afghanistan early on Wednesday. More than 600 people were also injured, and when news from isolated mountain villages trickles in, the death toll is anticipated to rise.
Images posted on Afghan media showed houses in ruins and victims laying on the ground covered in blankets.
According to Salahuddin Ayubi, a spokesman with the interior ministry, helicopters were used in the rescue effort to provide food and medical supplies to the injured.
"Since some of the communities are in isolated mountainous areas and it will take some time to gather details, the death toll is sure to grow."
The earthquake on Wednesday was the deadliest since 2002. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGC) reported that it struck around 44 km (27 miles) from the southeast Afghan city of Khost, close to the Pakistani border.
According to Ayubi, the majority of the reported fatalities occurred in the eastern province of Paktika, where 255 people were killed and more than 200 were hurt. There were 25 fatalities and 90 hospitalizations in the province of Khost.
The Taliban's top leader, Haibatullah Akhundzada, expressed his sympathy in a statement.
The Taliban, who took control of the nation in August and are cut off from much outside support due to sanctions, may face a significant challenge mounting a rescue effort.
About 119 million people in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and India reported feeling the trembling, according to the EMSC on Twitter, but there were no initial reports of property damage or injuries in Pakistan.
The USGC reported that the earthquake's magnitude was 5.9, whereas the EMSC reported that it was 6.1.
Recent floods in numerous areas, which the disaster agency reported had killed 11, injured 50, and blocked sections of highway, has made things more difficult for Afghan officials.
After two decades of war, international forces led by the United States left, leaving Afghanistan in the midst of a catastrophic economic crisis.
Many nations put sanctions on Afghanistan's banking industry and cut billions of dollars' worth of development money in response to the Taliban takeover.
However, international organisations like the United Nations have continued to operate and provide humanitarian help.
Afghanistan had requested assistance from humanitarian organisations with rescue efforts, according to the U.N.'s office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), and teams were being sent to the earthquake-affected area.
Afghanistan will welcome outside assistance, according to a foreign ministry spokesman. Pakistan, a neighbour, stated that it was working to provide assistance.
A tectonic plate known as the Indian plate is pushing against the Eurasian plate from the north, which is causing seismic activity across significant portions of South Asia.
In 2015, an earthquake in the far-flung northeast of Afghanistan killed hundreds of people there as well as in neighbouring northern Pakistan.
More than 20 people died in an earthquake that rocked western Afghanistan in January.
