Afghan survivors dig by hand
Gayan, June 23: Survivors dug by hand on Thursday through villages in eastern Afghanistan reduced to rubble by a powerful earthquake that killed at least 1,000 people, as the Taliban and the international community that fled their takeover struggled to aid the disaster’s victims.
In Paktika province’s hard-hit Gayan district, villagers stood atop the mud bricks that once was a home there. Others carefully walked through dirt alleyways, gripping onto damaged walls with exposed timber beams to make their way. The quake was Afghanistan’s deadliest in two decades, and officials said the toll could rise.
An estimated 1,500 others were reported injured, the state-run news agency said. The disaster inflicted by the 6 magnitude quake heaps more misery on a country where millions face increasing hunger and poverty and the health system has been crumbling since the Taliban retook power nearly 10 months ago amid the US and Nato withdrawal.
The takeover led to a cutoff of vital international financing, and most of the world has shunned the Taliban government. How — and whether the Taliban allow — the world to offer aid remains in question as rescuers dug through rubble with their bare hands.
“We ask from the Islamic Emirate and the whole country to come forward and help us. We are with nothing and have nothing, not even a tent to live in,” said Hakimullah, a survivor
The roads, which are rutted and difficult to travel in the best of circumstances, may have been badly damaged, and landslides from recent rains made access even more difficult. While modern buildings withstand magnitude 6 earthquakes elsewhere, Afghanistan’s mud-and-brick homes and landslide-prone mountains make temblors more dangerous.
Rescuers rushed in by helicopter, but the relief effort could be hindered by the exodus of international aid agencies from Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover last August.
Moreover, most governments are wary of dealing directly with the Taliban.
The Taliban had not formally requested that the United Nations mobilise international search-andrescue teams or obtain equipment from neighbouring countries to supplement the few dozen ambulances and several helicopters sent in by Afghan authorities, said Ramiz Alakbarov, the UN deputy special representative to Afghanistan.
THE TALIBAN had not requested the UN to mobilise international search teams or obtain equipment to supplement the few ambulances and helicopters sent by Afghan authorities. — Ramiz Alakbarov, UN Dy. special representative to Afghanistan