The Taliban-led government in Afghanistan has called for more international aid as it struggles to cope with a devastating earthquake in the eastern eastern region that has killed more than 1,000 people and injured many more.
As the war-torn nation is already plagued by economic crisis, hardline Islamist leaders say sanctions imposed by Western countries since the withdrawal of US-led coalition forces last year mean it has struggled to cope. Wednesday’s disaster in Host and Pactica provinces.
The death toll is rising as news of the victims is filtered from hard-to-reach areas in the mountains, and the country’s top leader, Hibatullah Ahundzada, has warned it is likely to rise as early as Thursday.
The quake affected areas already suffering from the effects of torrential rain, causing rock falls and landslides that hampered rescue efforts.
As rescue teams and local people resumed digging their hands in the rubble on Thursday in search of survivors, Mohammad Amin Huzayfa, head of the Paktika Information and Culture Department, said: “People are digging grave after grave.
Footage released by the Taliban shows residents digging a long slit to bury the dead. Huzaifa said more than 1,500 people were injured, many in critical condition. “People are still trapped under the rubble,” he told reporters.
A woman in the province of Paktika, left homeless by the earthquake, is trying to keep warm. Photo: Anadolu Agency / Getty Images
The disaster comes as Afghanistan struggles with a severe economic crisis after last year’s Taliban takeover, amid growing concerns about the Taliban’s ability to respond quickly to international agencies and international agencies.
While major international agencies are still operating in Afghanistan, the Taliban takeover has seen other agencies and governments cut aid programs in a country where about 80 percent of the budget comes from foreign aid.
Abdul Qahar Balhi, a senior Taliban official, said the government “appreciates and welcomes” the help promised by some other governments and support agencies such as Doctors Without Borders and the Red Cross.
But the 5.9 magnitude earthquake – initially reported to be 6.1 and the deadliest in the country in more than 20 years – caused so much damage and suffering that more help was needed.
“Unfortunately, the government is under sanctions, so it cannot help people financially to the extent that is needed,” he said.
earthquake map
“The aid needs to be increased to a very large extent, because this is a devastating earthquake that has not been experienced for decades.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the global agency had “fully mobilized” for help, with UN officials confirming the deployment of health teams and supplies of medicine, food, trauma kits and emergency shelter in the quake zone.
Thomas Nicklason, the European Union’s special envoy for Afghanistan, tweeted: “The EU is monitoring the situation and is ready to coordinate and provide emergency EU assistance to the people and communities concerned.
Pakistan, where authorities said one person died in the quake, said it would send emergency aid – including tents – across the border.
Médecins Sans Frontières said its teams in Host and the Afghan capital, Kabul, were in contact with the Taliban government and other organizations to provide support.
“We know that many health facilities are understaffed and a natural disaster that will push those in the affected area to their limits,” MSF tweeted in Afghanistan.
The British Red Cross says its teams are organizing the dispatch of food, medicine, shelter, water and temporary shelter to the region near the border with Pakistan. Intersos, a non-profit humanitarian organization working in Afghanistan, said the disaster could not have come at a worse time for Afghans and that “the organization’s doctors and nurses will soon be on track to support those who need urgent medical treatment ”.
An ambulance took the victims of the earthquake to a hospital in Paktika province. Photo: EPA
The disaster poses a huge challenge to the Taliban, who have largely isolated the country as a result of their hard-line Islamist policies – especially the subjugation of women and girls.
Even before the Taliban took over, Afghanistan’s emergency response teams were tasked with dealing with the natural disasters that often befell the country.
But with only a handful of planes and helicopters left after the Taliban returned to power, any immediate response to the latest crash is further limited.
Karim Nyazai was in the provincial capital and immediately returned to find his village devastated, killing 22 members of his large family.
“I was away from my family, who live in a remote village in the Gyan district. “I went there as soon as I found a car early in the morning,” he told the Guardian.
“The whole village is buried. Those who managed to escape, above all to fall, managed to remove the bodies of their loved ones from the rubble. There were bodies wrapped in blankets everywhere.
“I lost 22 members of mine [extended family] including my sister and three of my brothers. More than 70 people in the village died. “
One survivor, 22-year-old Arup Khan, who was pulled from a collapsed guest house, described the moment of the quake. “It was a terrible situation. Shouts were heard everywhere. My children and family were in the mud. “
The United States, whose troops helped overthrow the original Taliban regime and remained in Afghanistan for two decades until Washington withdrew them last year, was “deeply saddened” by the quake, the White House said.
“President Biden is monitoring developments and has ordered USAID and other federal government partners to evaluate US response options to help those most affected,” National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said in a statement. .
Wednesday’s quake struck at about 1:30 a.m. at a depth of 10 km (six miles), about 47 km southwest of Host, according to the United States Geological Survey.
It is felt all the way to Lahore in Pakistan, 480 kilometers from the epicenter in Khost.
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