The rescue of despair struggled against Thursday under heavy rain to attract survivors from debris after a strong earthquake hit the border region of the Afghanistan mountains, killing at least 1,000 people.
An earthquake measuring 5.9 struck the harsh east, where people had lived a harsh life in the midst of the humanitarian crisis that became worse since the takeover of the Taliban in August.
“People dug up the grave after grave,” said Mohammad Amin Huzaifa, Head of the Disasured Department of Information and Culture in Paktika, added that at least 1,000 people had died in the province.
He said more than 1,500 people were injured, many were critical.
“People are still trapped under the debris,” he told reporters.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said the global agent had been “fully mobilized” to help, spread the health team and medical supply, food, trauma kit, and emergency shelters to the earthquake zone.
The toll road rose on Wednesday when the news about victims was filtered from areas that were difficult to reach in the mountains, and the highest leader of the country, Hibatullah Akhundzada, warned the possibility of increasing further.
Earthquakes hit areas that have suffered from the effects of heavy rain, causing rocks and landslides that hamper rescue efforts.
“That is a terrible situation,” said Arup Khan, 22, recovered at a hospital in the capital of Paktika Sharan Province.
“There are crying everywhere. My children and family are under the mud.”
‘Like a tsunami’
Director of Sharan Hospital Mohammad Yahya Wiar said they did their best to care for everyone.
“Our country is poor and does not have resources,” he told AFP. “This is a humanitarian crisis. This is like a tsunami.”
Photos and videos posted on social media show a number of houses that are badly damaged in remote areas. The UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Afghanistan, Ramiz Alakbarov, told reporters that nearly 2,000 houses were likely to be destroyed.
The recording issued by the Taliban shows that people in one village dig a long trench to bury the dead, which by the Islamic tradition must be placed to rest facing Mecca.
This disaster is a big challenge for the Taliban, which mostly isolates the country with their Islamic hardline policies – especially the conquest of women and girls.
Even before the takeover of the Taliban, the Afghan emergency response team was stretched to deal with natural disasters that often attack the country.
But with only a handful of aircraft that are air -worthy and helicopters remaining since they returned to power, every direct response to the latest disasters is more limited.
“The government works in its ability,” Tweeted Anas Haqqani, a senior Taliban official.
“We hope that the International Community & Assistance Institution will also help our people in this terrible situation.”
Offers of help
The United States, whose troops helped overthrow the early Taliban regime and remained in Afghanistan for two decades until Washington pulled them out last year, “very sad” by the earthquake, the White House said.
“President Biden monitored developments and has directed USAID (US International Development Agency) and other federal government partners to assess the US response option to help those who are most affected,” National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said in a statement.
The European Union also quickly offers help.
Tomas Niklasson, a special EU delegation for Afghanistan, tweeted: “EU is monitoring the situation and is ready to coordinate and provide EU emergency assistance to people and affected communities.”
Pakistani neighbors, where officials said that one person was killed in the earthquake, said he would send emergency assistance – including tents – across the border.
Prayers for victims
Afghanistan is often hit by earthquakes, especially in the Hindu Kush mountains, which are located near the intersection of Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates.
A number of people were killed in January when two earthquakes hit West Badghis Province.
In 2015, more than 380 people were killed in Pakistan and Afghanistan when an earthquake measuring 7.5 tore up the two countries.
This new Afghanistan earthquake killed 5,000 in May 1998 in the northeast provinces of Takhar and Badakhshan.
From the Vatican, Pope Francis said a prayer for the latest earthquake victims.
“I revealed my closeness to the injured and those who were affected,” said the 85 -year -old Pope concluded his weekly audience.
The earthquake struck early Wednesday at a depth of 10 kilometers (six miles), according to the United States Geological Survey.
It feels as far as Lahore in Pakistan, 480 kilometers from the epicenter.