Earth-Quakes in Afghanistan
AGRITA CHHIBBER
According to local authorities, the death toll from two huge earthquakes in northwestern Afghanistan increased to at least 813 people on Sunday (08-10-2023), making the twin shocks one of the country’s deadliest natural catastrophes in decades.
More than 2,400 people were killed in earthquakes in Afghanistan on Sunday, according to the Taliban administration, in the deadliest shocks to hit the quake-prone mountainous country in years.
The 6.3 magnitude quake struck 35 kilometres (20 miles) northwest of the city of Herat on Saturday, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS).
They were among the deadliest earthquakes in the globe this year, following shocks in Turkey and Syria that killed an estimated 50,000 people in February.
The two 6.3 magnitude earthquakes struck Herat Province, near the country’s border with Iran, on Saturday, causing mud-brick homes in several districts to collapse and thousands of people to flee their homes and office buildings as the ground shook beneath them. The initial quakes were followed by at least seven earthquakes.
Some villages were devastated in the hardest-hit areas, and the number of casualties is anticipated to grow as search-and-rescue efforts continue, according to Taliban officials and local volunteers. Earlier on Sunday, officials stated that around 2,000 people had been killed, but the Ministry of Disaster Management later clarified that this figure includes both deaths and injuries.
Wakil Safi, 41, who was at home in the province capital, Herat City, when the earthquakes happened, said he fled outside with his five children as the walls of his house began to quiver, but fell to the ground due to the intensity of the shaking.
The humanitarians who arrived in the distant, hard-hit areas on Sunday encountered scenes of devastation: homes had been reduced to rubble, and entire families had been slain in some cases. Hundreds of injured individuals flooded hospitals and clinics, which were already on the verge of closing due to funding shortages.
In one social media video, a survivor of the earthquake in Wardakha, a distant community, stood on a mound of rubble that used to be his home. He revealed that he was the only survivor of his family following the earthquake; all 14 of his relatives, including his 5-day-old infant, were dead when their home fell.
“Oh my goodness. Oh, God, help me — what should I do?” he pleaded. Then, struggling for air, he sobbed into the dust that had once been his home.
The earthquakes were the latest natural disaster to rock Afghanistan, which has recently been hit by massive floods, mudslides, and earthquakes. According to Taliban sources, a huge earthquake devastated southeastern Afghanistan in June 2022, killing over 1,000 people.
The twin earthquakes come on the heels of two other huge quakes this year in Turkey and Morocco, which killed tens of thousands of people.
The disasters have exacerbated the already terrible humanitarian and economic crises that have gripped Afghanistan since the collapse of the Western-backed government two years ago, causing millions of jobs to vanish almost overnight and basic goods prices to skyrocket.
According to the United Nations World Food Programme, nearly half of the country’s 39 million people are suffering from extreme hunger, with approximately three million on the verge of starvation.
Since the Taliban took power in 2021, U.N. authorities have declared Afghanistan to be the world’s worst humanitarian disaster. However, assistance money has began to dry up two years into Taliban control as other crises have captured the world’s attention, and the Taliban administration’s increasing restrictions on women have led to calls to cut off financing from the country totally in retaliation.
As the country enters the harsh winter months, the misery is predicted to grow as families are forced to choose between spending their meagre savings on food or on firewood to keep their families warm.
Since capturing power in 2021, the Taliban’s ability to coordinate massive and persistent assistance efforts has been put to the test by an entrenched humanitarian catastrophe and a series of natural calamities.
According to the UN World Food Programme, nearly half of the country’s 39 million people are suffering from extreme hunger, with an additional three million on the verge of starvation.
Since the Taliban seized control in 2021, the United Nations has named Afghanistan the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. However, two years into Taliban rule, aid money began to run out as other crises drew the world’s attention, and the Taliban administration’s escalating restrictions on women prompted calls to cut off all funding to the country in retaliation.
However, the government’s ability to respond appeared to be overwhelmed by the sudden and acute need for food, help, and shelter.
“We sent tents, but the number of families was in the thousands, and we could only give tents to some families,” said Musa Ashari, the chairman of the Taliban’s disaster management department for Herat. “For example, a hundred families have received 20 to 30 tents.” The rest don’t even have a tent to sleep in.”
Hundreds of injured people from one of the worst-hit districts, Zinda Jan, waited on dusty blankets on the outskirts of Herat City on Sunday, waiting for medical treatment to arrive.
There were only a few survivors in some villages that had once housed hundreds of people. Several children’s bodies were covered in dust and sheet metal from the religious school they were attending when the earthquake struck. Village after village was destroyed.
“The situation is very bad,” he admitted. “You could not tell the difference between a house and an alley.”
Images collected from Internet
Agrita Chhibber is from Jammu
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