The Taliban-led government in Afghanistan has called for more international aid as it struggles to deal with the devastating earthquake in a mountainous region in the east that has left more than 1,000 people dead and many more injured.
With the war-torn nation already hit by an economic crisis, hardline Islamist leadership said sanctions imposed by Western countries following the withdrawal of US-led coalition forces last year meant it was impaired in its ability to cope with the Khost and Paktika disaster. provinces.
The death toll rose steadily on Wednesday as news of casualties leaked from hard-to-reach areas in the mountains, and the country’s top leader Hibatullah Akhundzada warned it would likely rise further.
The quake affected areas that were already affected by heavy rains, causing rockslides and mudslides that made rescue efforts difficult.
Mohammad Amin Huzaifa, head of Paktika’s information and culture department, described the consequences as people dug through the rubble to retrieve the dead and wounded: “People are digging grave after grave.”
Images released by the Taliban showed residents digging a long ditch to bury the dead. Huzaifa said more than 1,500 people were injured, many of them critics. “People are still trapped under the rubble,” he told reporters.
A woman in Paktika province who was left homeless by the earthquake tries to stay warm. Photo: Anadolu / Getty Images Agency
The disaster comes as Afghanistan faces a severe economic crisis that has gripped it since the Taliban took power last year, amid growing concerns about the ability of the Taliban and international agencies. to respond quickly.
Although major international agencies still operate in Afghanistan, the Taliban’s acquisition has led other agencies and governments to reduce their assistance programs in a country where about 80 percent of the budget comes from foreign aid.
Abdul Qahar Balkhi, a senior Taliban official, said the government “appreciated and welcomed” the help promised by some other governments and relief agencies such as Médecins Sans Frontières and the Red Cross.
But the 5.9-magnitude earthquake, which was initially 6.1 and the deadliest in the country for more than 20 years, had caused so much damage and suffering that more help was needed.
“Unfortunately, the government is under sanctions, so financially it cannot help people as much as it needs to,” he said.
earthquake map
“Assistance needs to be greatly expanded because it is a devastating earthquake that has not been experienced in decades.”
UN Secretary-General António Guterres said the world agency had “fully mobilized” to help, with UN officials confirming the deployment of medical equipment and supplies of medicines, food, kits of trauma and emergency shelter in the earthquake zone.
Tomas Niklasson, European Union Special Envoy for Afghanistan, tweeted: “The EU is monitoring the situation and is ready to coordinate and provide EU emergency assistance to the people and communities affected.”
Pakistan, where officials said one person died in the quake, said it would send emergency aid, including tents, across the border.
Doctors Without Borders said its teams in Khost and the Afghan capital Kabul were in contact with the Taliban government and other organizations to support it.
“We know that many of the health facilities have few resources and a natural disaster like this will limit those in the affected area,” MSF told Afghanistan in a tweet.
The British Red Cross said its teams were arranging for food, medicine, housing, water and temporary shelter to be sent to the region near the border with Pakistan.
An ambulance takes the victims of the earthquake to the hospital in Paktika province. Photo: EPA
The disaster poses a major challenge to the Taliban, who have largely isolated the country as a result of its hard-line Islamist policies, especially the submission of women and girls.
Even before the Taliban took office, Afghanistan’s emergency response teams were tense to deal with the natural disasters that often plague the country.
But with only a handful of navigable planes and helicopters since the Taliban returned to power, any immediate response to the latest catastrophe is even more limited.
Karim Nyazai was in the provincial capital and returned immediately to find his village devastated and 22 members of his extended family dead.
“I was away from my family living in a remote village in Gyan district. I went there as soon as I found a car in the early hours of the morning,” he told the Guardian.
“The whole village is buried. Those who could get out before everything fell apart were managing to get the bodies of their loved ones out of the rubble. There were bodies wrapped in blankets everywhere.
“I lost 22 members of mine [extended family] including my sister and three of my siblings. More than 70 people died in the village. “
A 22-year-old survivor, Arup Khan, who was pulled from a collapsed guest house, described the time of the quake. “It simply came to our notice then. There were screams everywhere. The kids and my family were in the mud. “
The United States, whose troops helped bring down the initial Taliban regime and remained in Afghanistan for two decades until Washington withdrew them last year, was “deeply saddened” by the quake, the earthquake said. White House.
“President Biden is monitoring developments and has instructed USAID (the US Agency for International Development) and other federal government partners to assess US response options to help those most affected,” the security adviser said. national Jake Sullivan in a statement.
Wednesday’s quake occurred around 1:30 a.m. at a depth of 10 km (six miles), about 47 km southwest of Khost, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
It felt as far away as Lahore in Pakistan, 480 km from the epicenter of Khost.