Taliban say earthquake rescue efforts in Afghanistan are nearing completion | earthquake news

Aid began arriving in a remote area of ​​Afghanistan where an earthquake killed at least 1,000 people, and where Taliban officials said the rescue operation was nearing completion.

The 6.1-magnitude earthquake struck early on Wednesday about 160 km southeast of Kabul in arid mountains dotted with small settlements near the border with Pakistan.

Poor communications and a lack of proper roads are hampering relief efforts in a country already grappling with a humanitarian crisis that has escalated since the Taliban seized power last August.

“The rescue operation is over, and no one is trapped under the rubble,” Mohammad Ismail Muawiya, a spokesman for the Taliban’s military commander in the hardest-hit Paktika province, told Reuters news agency on Thursday.

Afghans lay their clothes to dry on dry bushes near the ruins of earthquake-damaged houses in Bernal district, Paktika province. [Sahel Arman/AFP]

The United Nations said Thursday that as of Wednesday, the Taliban’s defense ministry had indicated that 90 percent of its search and rescue operations had been completed.

Muawiyah said that the earthquake killed about 1,000 people and injured 1,500 others. More than 3,000 homes were destroyed.

According to US government data, the death toll makes it the deadliest earthquake in Afghanistan in 20 years.

Health Ministry spokesman Sharafat Zaman told Reuters news agency that about 1,000 people were rescued on Thursday morning.

He said, “The aid has arrived in the area and it is continuing, but more is needed.”

Speaking to Al Jazeera from Paktika state, journalist Ali Latifi said the situation on the ground was “really bad”.

“When you are in these helicopters and fly over these areas, you will notice that they are basically in these mountains and in these hillsides these are all unpaved rocky areas… whole houses made of mud. Really poor areas where people have the most basic standard of living.”

“Even the closest clinic to one of the areas we were in, they said it was 30 minutes away – and even this is a private clinic it would cost people a lot of money to go to. And again, getting there is very difficult.”

calling for help

The response to the disaster is a major test for the Taliban, which has taken charge with the withdrawal of US-led international forces after two decades of war.

Aid officials say the humanitarian situation has alarmingly deteriorated since the Taliban seized power, with the country cut off from much international aid due to sanctions.

Abdul Qahar Balkhi, a spokesman for the Afghan Foreign Ministry, on Thursday reiterated calls for more international aid.

We call on the natural disaster management agencies and the international community to provide immediate and comprehensive assistance to the Afghan people on the basis of humanity so that the victims can financially rebuild their livelihoods.

— Abdul Qahar Balkhi (@QaharBalkhi) June 23, 2022

“We call on natural disaster management agencies and the international community to provide immediate and comprehensive assistance to the Afghan people,” he wrote on Twitter.

In an appeal to donors in late March, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Afghanistan’s economy was on the verge of collapse.

Drought has undermined food production and 9 million Afghans face starvation. He said some families were forced to sell children and organs to survive.

Afghans stand in the midst of destruction after the earthquake that hit Jayan village [Ebrahim Nooroozi/AP Photo]

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

The United Nations said its World Food Program was sending food and logistical equipment to the affected areas, with the aim of initially supporting 3,000 families.

“The Afghan people are already facing an unprecedented crisis following decades of conflict, severe drought and economic stagnation,” said Gordon Craig, WFP Deputy Country Director in Afghanistan.

“The earthquake will only add to the already enormous human needs they endure on a daily basis.”

On Thursday, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and the United Arab Emirates said they were planning to send aid. Supplies from neighboring Pakistan have already crossed the border.

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