AID ROLLS IN AS SECOND EARTHQUAKE HITS AFGHANISTAN
Relief efforts ramped up Friday to aid victims of the deadly earthquake that struck an impoverished region of southeastern Afghanistan this week in a disaster that killed hundreds and devastated a country already teetering on economic collapse nearly a year after the Taliban seized power.
As hopes of finding survivors faded, a second earthquake Friday jolted Gayan, the district hit hardest by the 5.9 magnitude temblor Wednesday. The follow-up quake killed at least five people and injured another 11, according to local officials.
That added to the hundreds killed and many others injured Wednesday in the provinces of Paktika and Khost, which are both on the border with Pakistan. According to Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban spokesman, more than 1,000 people died and at least 3,000 others were injured; the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs on Wednesday put the current death toll at 770.
Large numbers of people are missing, and aid agencies have said that they expect the toll in the rugged region, where communications and access are difficult, to rise.
The news of fresh tremors came as rescue efforts from Wednesday’s quake were winding down and as Taliban officials issued more calls for assistance from aid agencies and international governments. The Taliban and local functionaries said that they did not expect to find more survivors.
The punishing terrain and challenging weather conditions in the affected region made it difficult to send aid swiftly to Paktika province, according to Mohammad Nasim Haqqani, a spokesman for the Afghan Ministry of Disaster Management.
But as of Friday morning, a flow of aid from international governments and agencies had begun to stream in via air and road. Volunteers were carrying in whatever aid and supplies they could in their cars in a makeshift convoy along unpaved and steep mountain roads.
About 42 humanitarian aid planes and a group of 15 trucks sent by the Ministry of Disaster Management carrying emergency housing and food items — including rice, oil and flour — had reached the province, and the supplies were already being distributed, according to Haqqani, who said that the Afghan government had allocated 100 million afghani, or about $1.1 million, to help survivors.
Planes filled with medical supplies and aid from India, Iran and the United Arab Emirates began arriving early Friday, according to Mujahid.
“The aid that has been given to the people is enough for 10 to 15 days, but they have lost everything, and there is a constant need for cooperation from international aid agencies,” Mujahid said. Afghans based abroad, he added, were having trouble making donations as the Afghan banking system has largely collapsed under the weight of international sanctions.