Mounds of rubble and a future of grief are what’s left after Afghanistan earthquake killed thousands

Mounds of rubble and a future of grief are what’s left after Afghanistan earthquake killed thousands

People dug through rubble of quake in western Afghanistan for ir few possessions but material losses seemed unimportant.

Saturday’s 6.3 magnitude quake killed and injured thousands when it leveled an untold number of homes in Herat province. Picking through rubble on Monday, Asullah Khan paused to think about a future marred by grief.

Khan lost three daughters, his mor and his sister-in-law. Five members of his uncle’s family have died. His neighbors are grief-stricken, too.

“We have lost 23 people in this village,” Khan said.

Mounds of rubble flank ro winding through Zinda Jan district. Some door frames remain standing. re were few people in sight on Monday.

Taliban-appointed deputy prime minister for economic affairs, Abdul Ghani Barar, and his team visited quake-affected region Monday to deliver “immediate relief assistance” and ensure “equitable and accurate distribution of aid,” authorities said.

Top U.N officials also went to Zinda Jan to assess extent of damage. And in neighboring Pakistan, government held a special session to review aid for Afghanistan, including relief teams, food, medicine, tents and blankets.

Taliban’s supreme leer has me no public comments about quake.

Afghanistan has few reliable statistics but a spokesman for Afghanistan’s national disaster authority, Janan Sayiq, told reporters in Kabul that around 4,000 people were killed or injured by disaster. He did not provide a breakdown, but United Nations estimates that 1,023 people were killed and 1,663 people injured in 11 villages in Zinda Jan alone.

Nearly 2,000 houses in 20 villages were destroyed, Taliban has said. area hit by quake has just one government-run hospital.

Saturday’s epicenter was about 40 kilometers (25 miles) northwest of city of Herat, provincial capital, U.S. Geological Survey said. Several of aftershocks have been strong, including one Monday that again caused residents of city to rush out of ir homes.

More than 35 teams from military and nonprofit groups are involved in rescue efforts, said Sayiq, from disaster authority.

fast-approaching winter, combined with new disaster, is likely to exacerbate Afghanistan’s existing challenges and make it even harder for people to meet ir basic needs, like equate shelter, food, and medicine, aid groups warn.

Vital infrastructure including bridges was destroyed and emergency response teams have been deployed to provide humanitarian assistance, International Rescue Committee said.

global response to quake has been slow, with much of world wary of dealing directly with Taliban-led government and focused on dely escalation between Israel and Palestinians in aftermath of surprise attack by Gaza militants on Saturday.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian called his Afghan Taliban counterpart, Amir Khan Muttaqi, to express his condolences, according to a post on X by Hafiz Zia Ahm, deputy spokesman for foreign ministry in Kabul. Iranian diplomat “promised humanitarian aid to victims,” said Ahm.

Meanwhile, justice ministry has urged national and international charity foundations, businessmen and Afghans to mobilize and gar humanitarian aid for needy people in province.

“Due to extent of damages and casualties caused by this incident, a large number of our compatriots in Herat province need urgent humanitarian aid,” ministry said in a statement.

Afghans are still reeling from recent natural disasters.

A magnitude 6.5 earthquake in March struck much of Pakistan and Afghanistan, and an earthquake hit eastern Afghanistan in June 2022, flattening stone and mud-brick homes and killing at least 1,000 people.