Afghan earthquake death toll jumps to more than 2,200, says Taliban | Afghanistan
A Taliban government spokesman said in a statement on Thursday that hundreds of bodies were rescued from the houses in the mountain villages destroyed by a large earthquake in Afghanistan this week and lasted more than 2,200 mortality.
Shallow, size-6.0 earthquake hit the mountainous and Far East part of the country late on Sunday, leveling the villages and caught people under the rubble. Most of the wounded are in Kunar where people live in wood and mud brick houses along the upright river valleys separated by high mountains.
According to an assessment published by the Islamic charity on Thursday, approximately 98% of the buildings in the state were damaged or destroyed. Aid agencies said that they need staff and materials to be prone to the survivors of the region.
Muhammad Israel said that he had opened a landslide that buried the house, animals and belongings in Kunar. “All rocks landed from the mountain,” he said. “I barely took my children out of there … Earthquake tremors are still happening. It is impossible to live there.”
One of the worst affected areas was in the UN Medical Camp in Nurgal. “The situation is bad for us, we don’t have a shelter and we live under the open sky,” he said.
Previous estimates said about 1,400 people were killed. Taliban spokesman Hamdullah Fitrat said in a statement on Thursday, the updated death fee is 2.205 and the search and rescue efforts continue, he said.
“Tents have been established for people and the delivery of first aid and emergency materials continues,” he said.
Rough land is prevented from helping efforts. The Taliban officials used helicopters to help survived and took off their army commandos. The aid employees reported that they had walked for hours to reach the villages cut by landslides and rock falls.
Financing cuts also have an impact on the response. The Norwegian Refugee Council said that there are less than 450 personnel in Afghanistan, whereas in 2023, the last major earthquake date in the country. The council remained only one warehouse and there was no urgent stock.
Maisam Shafiey, Advisor to the Afghan Council of Communication and Defending, said, “We will have to buy goods after receiving the fund, but this potentially will receive weeks and people need it now.”
“There is only $ 100,000 to support emergency intervention efforts. This leaves a financing gap of $ 1.9 million,” Shafiey said.
Dr Shamshair Khan, who participated in the UN camp in Nurgal, said that his own situation worsened after seeing the pain of others.
“Neither these drugs nor these services are not,” he said. “These people need more medicines and tents. They need food and clean drinking water. They need more help. These people suffer greatly.”
Afghanistan was already struggling with drought, a weak economy and about 2 million Afghan’s return from neighboring countries.
