An Earthquake In Afghanistan Has Killed 950 People. The Account Seems Likely To Increase

Photographs by Afghan media showed houses in ruins, with corpses crammed into blankets lying on the ground. Helicopters were deployed in the rescue effort to reach the injured and fly with medical supplies and food, said Interior Ministry official Salahuddin Ayubi. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register “The death toll is likely to rise as some of the villages are located in remote areas in the mountains and it will take some time to gather details.” Wednesday’s quake was the deadliest since 2002. It struck about 44 kilometers (27 miles) from the southeastern city of Khost, near the border with Pakistan, according to the US Geological Survey (USGC). Most of the confirmed deaths were in the eastern province of Paktika, where 255 people were killed and more than 200 were injured, Ayubi added. In Khost province, 25 were killed and 90 were taken to hospital. Haibatullah Ahunjada, the supreme leader of the Taliban, expressed his condolences in a statement. Organizing a rescue operation could prove to be a major test for the Taliban, who took over the country in August and have been cut off from major international aid due to sanctions. The quake was felt by about 119 million people in Pakistan, Afghanistan and India, the EMSC said on Twitter, but there were no immediate reports of injuries or deaths in Pakistan. People are transporting injured people in a helicopter after a huge earthquake, in Paktika province of Afghanistan, on June 22, 2022, on this screen taken from a video. BAKHTAR NEWS AGENCY / Brochure through REUTERS
read more The EMSC said the quake measured 6.1 on the Richter scale, although the USGC said it was 5.9. Adding to the challenge for Afghan authorities are the recent floods in many areas, which according to the disaster service have killed 11, injured 50 and closed highway sections. The devastation comes as Afghanistan faces a severe economic crisis since the Taliban took over, as US-led international forces withdrew after two decades of war. In response to the Taliban takeover, several states have imposed sanctions on Afghanistan’s banking sector and cut $ 1 billion in development aid. Humanitarian aid continued, however, with international organizations, such as the United Nations, operating. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) has said that Afghanistan has asked humanitarian services to assist in rescue efforts and that teams are being sent to the quake-hit area. A spokesman for the Afghan Foreign Ministry said he would welcome international aid. Neighboring Pakistan has said it is working to expand aid. Large parts of South Asia are seismically active because a tectonic plate known as the Indian plate pushes north into the Eurasian plate. read more In 2015, an earthquake struck northeastern Afghanistan, killing several hundred people in Afghanistan and nearby northern Pakistan. In January, an earthquake struck western Afghanistan, killing more than 20 people. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register Report by Shubham Kalia in Bengaluru and Mohammad Yunus Yawar in Kabul and Jibran Ahmad in Peshawar. Additional References from Alasdair Pal in Delhi. Writes Charlotte Greenfield. Edited by Robert Birsel and Clarence Fernandez Our role models: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.