Afghans suffering from earthquakes fear the coming of winter patriotic

Survivors of a powerful earthquake that reduced homes in Afghanistan to rubble are now wondering where they can find shelter from the torrential rains and cold of the coming winter.

Others who managed to survive a more deadly earthquake two months ago share their concern.

A 6.3-magnitude earthquake this week that rocked the northern provinces of Samangan and Balkh killed at least 27 people, Taliban authorities said.

The epicenter of the earthquake was located in the Kholm district of Samangan, where a man named Gulab Uddin was mourning his daughter-in-law.

When the disaster struck on the night of Sunday to Monday, she was unable to reach the ground floor of the family's home in time.

Gulab Uddin himself was hit in the head by a falling brick.

“We lost all our belongings,” he told AFP.

“Winter is coming. We have children between four and five years old. Where can we go? For two nights we have been staying with our relatives.”

The rain turned the dirt road in his village into a muddy puddle, surrounded by cracked and collapsed walls and roofs.

Similar scenes appeared in areas of eastern Afghanistan, which were struck by an earthquake measuring 6.0 on the Richter scale in late August.

This attack killed more than 2,200 people, making it the deadliest in Afghanistan's modern history.

In the farming village of Mazar Dara, in the mountains of Kunar province, Bazarga Savai saw children swept away when the previous earthquake struck.

Two months later, she said she feared others would die from the cold.

– 'Surviving the cold' –

Savai, a 50-year-old farmer, lost two relatives in the previous earthquake, and now shares a tent with 15 people, including 12 children.

“We got a tent, but it's not suitable for winter,” she said.

Most residents prefer to sleep outside, in gardens, or on balconies, for fear of spending the night in what remains of the village's homes with the repeated occurrence of aftershocks.

People will have to endure temperatures that will soon drop to -20 degrees Celsius (minus 4 degrees Fahrenheit) without warm blankets or proper winter clothing.

“The earthquake occurred in the summer, and the organizations provided aid based on the needs at that time,” said Najibullah Hanafi, the Taliban's media official in Kunar.

“Now that winter is coming, they need clothes and things to help them survive the cold.”

Despite these harsh conditions, international relief organizations have repeatedly warned that their work will be limited because major donors led by the US government have withdrawn their funding.

– Concrete solution? –

At the foot of Mount Mazar Dara, camps were set up.

But the International Organization for Migration says a survey among survivors showed that 77 percent of respondents indicated they intended to stay put even into the winter — either because they couldn't afford to move or because they didn't know where to go.

For many of them, the only solution is to rebuild and improve their homes, even at the expense of replacing traditional stone houses.

Hanafi, the media official, said that the Taliban authorities are building dozens of new houses in Mazar Dara.

But reporters saw only one bulldozer removing the rubble.

Farmer Syed Wali Safai (27 years old) said: “We need to rebuild the right way, with concrete and bricks.”

Another resident, Awal Jan, said: “We want to rebuild our house in the same place, but not in the same way. If we don’t want our house to collapse again, only concrete will work.”

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