A magnitude 5.9 earthquake shook the city of Khost, on the border with Pakistan, in the early hours of Wednesday. At least 1,500 people have been reported injured, but officials warn that the number of people is likely to rise as many families slept in fragile housing structures when the quake struck.
Many houses in the area are made of mud, wood and other materials vulnerable to weather damage, and the quake coincided with heavy monsoon rains, which add to the danger of collapse.
Photos from the nearby province of Paktika, a rural and mountainous region where most of the deaths have been reported, show houses reduced to rubble. About 2,000 homes are believed to have been destroyed, according to the United Nations. Some people spent the night sleeping in makeshift outdoor shelters while lifeguards searched for survivors with a flashlight.
Doctors and emergency personnel from all over the country come together at the scene, with the assistance of some international agencies such as the World Health Organization.
However, aid may be limited, as many organizations withdrew from the aid-dependent country after the Taliban seized power last August.
The Taliban government has deployed emergency resources, including several helicopters and dozens of ambulances, and has offered compensation to the families of the victims.
He also called for foreign aid and called for “generous support from all countries, international organizations, individuals and foundations” on Wednesday.
Limited international aid
The quake has exacerbated problems already affecting Afghanistan.
Although the economic crisis has been approaching for years as a result of the conflict and drought, it has sunk to new heights after the Taliban took power, prompting the United States and its allies to freeze some 7,000. millions of dollars from the country’s foreign reserves and cut off international funding.
The move has paralyzed the Afghan economy and sent many of its 20 million people into a severe famine. Millions of Afghans are out of work, government employees have not been paid and food prices have skyrocketed, with reports of some families so desperate for food that they have gone to sell their children.
There are few aid agencies left, and those that do are spreading. On Wednesday, the WHO said it had mobilized “all resources” from across the country, with teams on the ground providing medicines and emergency support. But, as one WHO official put it, “resources are being overstated here, not just for this region.”
Experts and officials say the most urgent immediate needs include medical care and transportation for the injured, shelter and supplies for the displaced, food and water and clothing.
The UN has distributed medical supplies and sent mobile medical equipment to Afghanistan, but warned that it lacks search and rescue capabilities and that regional neighbors have little capacity to intervene.
The US no longer has a presence in Afghanistan after the total withdrawal of its troops and the collapse of the previous US-backed Afghan government. Like almost every other nation, it has no official relations with the Taliban government.
Turkey is the country best able to provide assistance, said Ramiz Alakbarov, UN Deputy Special Representative for Afghanistan. He said the Turkish embassy in Afghanistan was “awaiting the formal request”.
Turkey’s foreign ministry said on Wednesday that the Turkish Red Crescent, which operates in Afghanistan, had sent humanitarian aid to the victims. On Thursday, a Taliban spokesman said humanitarian aid had also arrived from Qatar, Iran and Pakistan, with flights and trucks carrying items such as medicines, tents and tarpaulins.
It is estimated that $ 15 million in aid is needed to respond to the disaster, Alakbarov said, a figure that is likely to continue to rise as information on the situation on the ground arrives.
“Our teams do not have specific equipment to get people out of the rubble,” Alakbarov said. “This has to depend mainly on the efforts of the de facto authorities, who also have certain limitations in this regard … I do not have the detailed reports of the good position they are in to operate and deploy this machinery in these mountainous areas.”
According to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), information including damage assessments) is limited by now, with telecommunications disrupted in remote areas and bad weather conditions making transportation difficult.
“The country is suffering from the effects of decades of conflict, prolonged severe drought, the effects of other severe climate-related disasters, extreme economic hardship, a battered health system and system-wide gaps,” the ICRC said on Wednesday. asking for more global support.
“Therefore, even though the disaster is localized, the scale of humanitarian needs will be massive.”