Afghan quake: UN, EU offer help
Photographs and video clips posted on social media showed scores of badly damaged mud houses in remote rural areas.
KABUL/ISLAMABAD: The United Nations and European Union were quick to offer help after a powerful earthquake struck a rural, mountainous region of eastern Afghanistan early on Wednesday, killing 1,000 people and injuring 1,500 more in one of the deadliest temblors in decades.
The 5.9 magnitude quake struck hardest in the rugged terrain of the east, where people already live hardscrabble lives in a country in the grip of a humanitarian disaster made worse by the Taliban takeover in August.
The death toll climbed steadily all day as news of casualties filtered in from hard-to-reach areas in the mountains, and the country’s supreme leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada, warned it would likely rise further.
Earlier, a tribal leader from Paktika province - one of the hardest hit areas - said survivors and rescuers were scrambling to help those affected.
“The local markets are closed and all the people have rushed to the affected areas,” Yaqub Manzor told AFP by telephone.
Photographs and video clips posted on social media showed scores of badly damaged mud houses in remote rural areas.
Some footage showed local residents loading victims into a military helicopter.
Even before the Taliban takeover Afghanistan’s emergency response teams were stretched to deal with the natural disasters that frequently struck the country. But with only a handful of airworthy planes and helicopters, an immediate response is often limited. “The government is working within its capabilities,” tweeted Anas Haqqani, a senior Taliban official.
“We hope that the International Community & aid agencies will also help our people in this dire situation.”
The United Nations and European Union were quick to offer help. “Inter-agency assessment teams have already been deployed to a number of affected areas,” the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) in Afghanistan tweeted.
“Immediate needs identified include emergency trauma care, emergency shelter and non-food items, food assistance and WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene) support,” UNOCHA said. “Given the unseasonable, heavy rains and cold, emergency shelter is an immediate priority.”
Tomas Niklasson, EU special envoy for Afghanistan, tweeted: “The EU is monitoring the situation and stands ready to coordinate and provide EU emergency assistance to people and communities affected.”
Afghanistan is frequently hit by earthquakes - especially in the Hindu Kush mountain range, which lies near the junction of the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates. Scores of people were killed and injured in January when two quakes struck rural areas in the western province of Badghis, damaging hundreds of buildings.
In 2015, more than 380 people were killed in Pakistan and Afghanistan when a 7.5-magnitude earthquake ripped across the two countries, with the bulk of the deaths in Pakistan.
From the Vatican City, Pope Francis offered prayers for the victims of the latest quake.
“I express my closeness with the injured and those who were affected,” the 85-year-old pontiff said at the end of his weekly audience.
The latest earthquake came at a time when Afghanistan is battling a severe humanitarian disaster, worsened by the Taliban takeover of the country.
Aid agencies have particularly stressed the need for greater disaster preparedness in Afghanistan, which remains extremely susceptible to recurring earthquakes, floods and landslides.
The quake was felt as far away as Lahore in Pakistan, 480 kilometres from the epicentre, according to responses posted on the USGS and European Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) websites.
One killed in Pakistan
The earthquake shook parts of neighbouring Pakistan early on Wednesday, killing one person in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, according to a media report. According to the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD), the epicentere of the quake was 44km southwest of Khost in Afghanistan at a depth of 50.8km.
The tremors were felt in Peshawar, Islamabad, Lahore and other parts of Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa provinces. A man was reported to have died after the roof of his house collapsed following the tremors in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.
According to police, the man a member of the local football team - was asleep inside his house in Lakki Marwat at the time the roof collapsed, the Express Tribune newspaper reported.