NURGAL: The death toll from a powerful earthquake that struck eastern Afghanistan has risen sharply to more than 2,200 people, making it the deadliest seismic event to hit the country in decades.
The vast majority of casualties occurred in Kunar province, where 2,205 people died and 3,640 were injured, with additional fatalities and hundreds of injuries reported in neighbouring Nangarhar and Laghman provinces.
Access to the hardest hit areas remains severely hampered by landslides and rockfall blocking already poor roads, with the situation further complicated by strong aftershocks continuing to convulse the region.
A shallow 5.6-magnitude earthquake struck near the epicentre of Sunday’s temblor on Thursday night, shaking buildings as far away as Kabul and Islamabad.
This seventh strong aftershock recorded by the US Geological Survey has plunged survivors repeatedly into fear, with children who lost families and homes experiencing particular terror according to Save the Children.
The death toll increased by more than 700 in the past 24 hours according to Taliban authorities, and the figure could continue to rise as rescuers search for bodies in the rubble.
Deputy government spokesman Hamdullah Fitrat confirmed that hundreds of bodies have been recovered from destroyed houses during ongoing search and rescue operations.
The earthquake destroyed more than 6,700 homes in Kunar province alone, leaving survivors living outdoors with minimal aid reaching them.
Survivors urgently need tents, water, food and medicine according to local accounts, with reports of fighting over limited food supplies among starving populations.
Various countries have flown in aid, with China pledging approximately $7 million of emergency relief including tents, blankets and food.
Poor infrastructure in the impoverished country, still fragile from four decades of war, has severely hampered the emergency response effort.
Aid delivery to villages cut off by landslides requires carrying supplies for hours along narrow dirt tracks navigating rock falls according to Save the Children.
The World Health Organization warned that local healthcare services are under immense strain with shortages of trauma supplies, medicines and staff.
The agency has appealed for $4 million to deliver lifesaving health interventions and expand mobile health services and supply distribution. The loss of US foreign aid to the country in January has strained aid organisations already facing dwindling funding despite Afghanistan’s severe humanitarian crisis.
United Nations refugee agency head Filippo Grandi confirmed the quake has affected more than 500,000 people in eastern Afghanistan.
The country continues to contend with endemic poverty, severe drought and the influx of millions of Afghans forced back from Pakistan and Iran since the Taliban’s 2021 takeover. – AFP
