As families slept, mud-brick and cinder block homes collapsed in eastern Afghanistan as a result of a strong 5.9 magnitude earthquake, creating a fresh disaster in a nation that has already suffered greatly.
More than 920 people were reportedly killed and more than 600 more were injured, according to the state-run news agency for the Taliban. They cited Mawlavi Sharfuddin Muslim, the deputy state minister for disaster management. Due to the earthquake’s impact on outlying places, it was impossible to instantly confirm that number.
The footage of an unidentified man whose iPhone swung around to capture residences collapsed in the morning light was uploaded by the Bakhtar News Agency to show the extent of the destruction.
Men were seen pulling out of the rubble of what appeared to be a small body wrapped in a blanket in a photo released by the news agency. One man was seen lighting up the scene with what appeared to be a small flashlight clenched between his teeth. Men were seen resting on gurneys among the debris in a subsequent video.
The most severely affected regions were remote farming villages in the eastern Afghan provinces of Paktika and Khost. Because of the remoteness of these villages, Afghan authorities sent seven helicopters and a medical team to assist in the rescue effort.
These provinces border Pakistan’s untamed northwest mountain range. Mohsin Dawar, a lawmaker for one of those nearby Pakistani regions, sent NPR with pictures showing homes covered in rubble.
Officials from the Taliban sent their condolences and urged Afghans to lend a hand to one another, as many are already doing. On Twitter, the Afghan Red Crescent Society announced that it was distributing supplies to the impacted districts.
According to Samantha Mort, the communications director for UNICEF in Afghanistan, men have shown up in nearby, unaffected areas to donate blood at neighborhood hospitals.
The UN organization was assisting, she claimed: “We have personnel on the ground providing blankets, hygiene kits, and other supplies. To provide first aid to individuals who are hurt, we have several mobile health and nutrition teams on the road.”
She said that the calamity hit a nation that had already experienced numerous hardships. “This population is extremely poor, has a high unemployment rate, and is currently experiencing the worst drought in the past 37 years. A crisis of chronic starvation exists as well “She spoke. “Preventable diseases like measles and severe watery diarrhea are on the rise in outbreaks.”
The United Nations has been working hard to generate the funds necessary to meet its expenses for this year, which include providing food for over half of Afghanistan’s 40 million citizens.
However, Dr. Ramiz Alakbarov, the Secretary General’s deputy special representative for Afghanistan, stated on Twitter that they were “assessing the requirements” of the earthquake victims and that a response was on the way.
According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the earthquake’s epicenter was only 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) below Earth’s surface. Because the energy from such earthquakes doesn’t dissipate as much as it moves toward the surface, shallow depths like that sometimes carry a greater danger of damage.
According to the USGS, the earthquake was most likely caused by strike-slip faulting according to the pattern of strong waves emanating from its epicenter. The India tectonic plate is pushing into the Eurasia plate from the north, resulting in a continuous, huge collision that generates earthquakes in the area.
About 300 miles away from the location of the 2008 earthquake in western Pakistan that triggered landslides and killed 166 people, the 2008 quake was even stronger.
