An earthquake in Afghanistan’s east wipes out homes, generations and livelihoods

Ahmad Khan Safi had a good life in Afghanistan. The farmer worked in the Dewagal Valley of Kunar province and people traveled from all over the country to visit the region. Tourists were amazed at lush landscapes, winding roads and tremendous slopes. The valley seemed to be untouched.

It was difficult to reach, it could not be reached so much, people had to replace cars from Jalalabad four times from Jalalabad in the neighboring Nangarhar state and to walk the rest of the road or drive a mule for several hours.

Safi, wood and cement were very expensive and not practical for transport because they built a 10 -room house of mud and stone. On August 31, the house collapsed as soon as a large earthquake was shot. The shock quickly was replaced by fear and panic.
“I stuck in the mud and I didn’t breathe,” he said to Associated Press from a Jalalabad hospital. “I fought a lot to go out, but he was shot with the rocks and fell so hard that my leg was injured.” He spent the night under the rubble, without knowing if his family was alive or dead.

The next morning, around 10.00 hours, when people came from other regions on foot for help.

The distance that complicates the rescue efforts of the region was not the most powerful or deadly in the recent history of Afghanistan. However, distant and solid Kunar challenged the efforts to rescue. The ruling Taliban officials used helicopters or air -ended army commandos to evacuate the survivors. There is no helicopter landing site in Dewagal Valley and there is no way for vehicles instead of heavy machines. Safi, which provided security on the shoulders of people, many of the wounded died because there was no way to reach them. A homemade stretcher stream was deceived by more hospitable lands. “There was no single house without dead or wounded people and there was not a single house. 130 people died in our region. The earthquake killed 22 members of my family – Children, nephew, nephew and brother – and wounded 17.”

He added that all families were erased.

The death of this disaster exceeds 2,000, but this figure may rise, because more body is located on the ground and now one of the villages with dust piles.

“I think now, I think, no matter what the wealth and savings we have received from our grandfather’s time, and now we have nothing, Saf Safi said. “My family lost about 300 cows, sheep and goats in this earthquake. All people in the village were farmers and livestock guards.

“We don’t have any other source of income. I don’t know what to do or where to go because our houses collapsed. The wall hasn’t even left. What will we do with this life?”

‘We cannot spend the night in the mountains anymore’ ‘The UN estimates that up to 500,000 people, more than half of the earthquake, more than half of the child, and the communities that have been hit, began to rebuild the lives of the Afghans, where they forced from neighboring countries.

Roads and bridges were damaged. Duzine water sources were destroyed by increasing health risks for survivors.

Rain has worsening the conditions that triggered earth shifts and floods. Schools and health facilities disappeared. When too many buildings were destroyed, there are very few shelters. People live and sleep under the open sky.

Kunar’s steep slopes look like a war zone. The houses that need to be built for years were destroyed. An assessment made by the Islamic aid charity institution said that only 2% of the houses in Kunar remain intact.

Ghulam Rahman from the Chawkay region in the middle of the province of Kunar lost his wife and five children in the earthquake. While taking his last breath, he was stuck in the wreckage for half an hour next to his wife.

“Dust and small stones were in my mouth, so I couldn’t speak properly,” he said. “I heard he was praying.”

Some of his family’s bodies healed the first day after the earthquake. The rest remained 24 hours a day under the debris. Only two out of seven children survived. Someone stayed in a religious school. The other was sleeping on the roof.

The rocks rolled up to Rahman’s house from the houses on a higher altitude and mountain. He said the points in his village died.

Rahman presented a part of his family’s agricultural land for their burial.

“We had everything and now it was destroyed. We want the government to give us straight soil. We can’t spend the night in the mountains anymore. I can’t go there because I see dead family members and life is hard. I’m afraid of there.”