Image: Reuters Berita 24 English - According to disaster management experts, the death toll from the earthquake that struck Afghanistan on ...
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| Image: Reuters |
Berita 24 English - According to disaster management experts, the death toll from the earthquake that struck Afghanistan on Wednesday has reached 1,000, with more than 600 people injured. As news from isolated mountain villages trickles in, the death toll is expected to rise.
Images on Afghan media revealed the aftermath of the magnitude 6.1 earthquake, which left houses in ruins and victims covered in blankets on the ground.
According to health and aid workers, an undetermined number of people are still trapped in the rubble and in remote areas. Rescue efforts have also been hampered by challenging weather conditions, such as persistent rain, landslides, and the fact that many villages are tucked away in difficult-to-reach hillside regions.
"There are still many bodies buried beneath the ground. The Islamic Emirate's rescue teams have come, and they are attempting to remove the injured and dead with the assistance of the locals "An employee of a hospital in the severely affected Paktika province spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media.
The hard-line Islamist Taliban authorities, who took control of the nation in August after two decades of war and have been cut off from much outside support due to sanctions, will face a significant challenge in mounting a rescue mission. Rescue efforts are being coordinated by the Taliban-led ministry of defence.
The topography and weather would make it extremely difficult to rescue anybody trapped under rubble, according to Loretta Hieber Girardet of the United Nations' disaster risk reduction office.
The lack of simple access to the area will make setting up a humanitarian operation difficult from the start, she added, adding that rain mixed with the tremor increased the risk of landslides for aid personnel.
According to the U.N. humanitarian agency, medical teams and supplies were being sent.
As some of the communities are in isolated locations in the mountains and it will take some time to gather facts, interior ministry spokesman Salahuddin Ayubi predicted that the death toll would rise.
QUICKEST EARTHQUAKE IN 20 YEARS
The earthquake on Wednesday was the deadliest to hit Afghanistan since 2002. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) reported that it struck around 44 km (27 miles) from the southeast Afghan city of Khost, close to the Pakistani border.
According to the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC), 119 million people in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and India experienced shaking; nevertheless, there were no immediate reports of 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.
Inadequately built homes and landslides made the impoverished hillside areas hit by the earthquake particularly vulnerable, according to disaster experts and relief workers.
Gul Faraz, together with his wife and kids, were receiving medical attention for their injuries at a hospital in Paktika when he remarked, "We were all asleep at home... then the room crashed over us." He claimed that a few family members had died.
The entire region has been damaged, not just the houses in our neighbourhood.
According to Ayubi, the majority of the reported fatalities occurred in the eastern province of Paktika, where 255 people died and more than 200 were hurt. There were 25 fatalities and 90 hospitalizations in the province of Khost.
Recent floods in numerous areas, which has closed sections of highway, has made things more difficult for Afghan authorities.
A serious economic crisis is also affecting Afghanistan. Many nations put restrictions on Afghanistan's financial industry and reduced billions of dollars in economic aid in response to the Taliban takeover last year.
However, international organisations like the United Nations have continued to provide humanitarian relief.
The Taliban would welcome outside assistance, according to a spokesman for the foreign ministry.
According to the White House, U.S. President Joe Biden gave the U.S. Agency for International Development and other federal government partners the task of analysing potential U.S. responses.
The United Nations, according to U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, was fully mobilised, determining the needs and offering initial support.
"We rely on the global community to assist in providing assistance to the hundreds of families affected by this most recent disaster. The time for solidarity is now "In a statement, he said.
A tectonic plate known as the Indian plate is pushing into the Eurasian plate from the north, which is causing seismic activity in 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 nearby northern Pakistan.
