At least 1,000 people were killed in the devastating earthquake in Afghanistan

Afghanistan earthquake: The death toll rose steadily on Wednesday.

Sharan (Afghanistan):

Desperate rescuers struggled against the clock Thursday in torrential rain to pull survivors out of the rubble after a powerful earthquake hit a mountainous border region in Afghanistan, killing at least 1,000 people.

The 5.9-magnitude earthquake hit the rugged eastern region, where people are already living tough lives amid a humanitarian crisis that has worsened since the Taliban seized power in August.

“People are digging grave by grave,” said Muhammad Amin Hudhaifa, head of the Department of Information and Culture in hard-hit Paktika, adding that at least 1,000 people have died in that province alone.

He said more than 1,500 people were injured, many of them seriously.

“People are still trapped under the rubble,” he told reporters.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the agency was “fully mobilized” to help and deployed health teams, supplies of medicine, food, casualty kits and emergency shelter to the quake zone.

The death toll rose steadily on Wednesday as news of casualties leaked from hard-to-reach areas in the mountains, and the country’s supreme leader, Hebatullah Akhundzada, warned it was likely to rise further.

The quake hit areas that were already suffering from the effects of heavy rain, causing rock falls and mudslides that hampered rescue efforts.

“It was a terrible situation,” said Arup Khan, 22, who was recovering in a hospital in Sharan, the capital of Paktika province.

“There were screams everywhere. The children and my family were under the mud.”

“Like a tsunami”

Sharan Hospital Director Muhammad Yahya War said they are doing their best to treat everyone.

“Our country is poor and lacks resources,” he told AFP. “This is a humanitarian crisis. It’s like a tsunami.”

Pictures and videos posted on social media showed dozens of severely damaged homes in remote areas. The UN humanitarian coordinator in Afghanistan, Ramiz Alakbarov, told reporters that nearly 2,000 homes were likely destroyed.

Footage released by the Taliban showed people in a village digging a long trench to bury the dead, who according to Islamic tradition should be buried facing Mecca.

The catastrophe poses a major challenge to the Taliban, who have largely isolated the country with their hard-line Islamist policies – particularly the subjugation of women and girls.

Even before the Taliban seized power, emergency response teams in Afghanistan were exhausted to deal with the natural disasters that frequently hit the country.

But with only a handful of airworthy planes and helicopters remaining since its return to power, any immediate response to the latest disaster is more limited.

“The government is working within its capabilities,” Anas Haqqani, a senior Taliban official, wrote on Twitter.

“We hope that the international community and relief agencies will help our people in this difficult situation.”

Offers of help

The White House said the United States, whose forces helped topple the initial Taliban regime and remained in Afghanistan for two decades until Washington pulled them out last year, was “deeply saddened” by the earthquake.

“President Biden is monitoring developments and has directed the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and other partners in the federal government to evaluate US response options to assist those most affected,” National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said in a statement.

The European Union was also quick to provide assistance.

“The EU is monitoring the situation and stands ready to coordinate and provide emergency EU assistance to affected people and communities,” Thomas Nicholson, the EU’s special envoy for Afghanistan, wrote on Twitter.

Neighboring Pakistan, where officials said one person was killed in the quake, said it would send emergency aid – including tents – across the border.

Prayers for the victims

Afghanistan is frequently subject to earthquakes, especially in the Hindu Kush mountain range, which is located near the junction of the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates.

Dozens were killed in January when two earthquakes struck western Badghis province.

In 2015, more than 380 people were killed in Pakistan and Afghanistan when a 7.5-magnitude earthquake struck the two countries.

The last deadliest earthquake in Afghanistan killed 5,000 people in May 1998 in the northeastern provinces of Takhar and Badakhshan.

From the Vatican, Pope Francis offered prayers for the victims of the recent earthquake.

“I express my closeness to the injured and those affected,” the 85-year-old pope said at the end of his weekly meeting.

The earthquake struck in the early hours of Wednesday morning at a depth of ten kilometers, according to the US Geological Survey.

The earthquake was felt as far away as Lahore in Pakistan, 480 km from the epicenter.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by the NDTV crew and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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