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In the east of Afghanistan, hundreds of people died in the night from Sunday to Monday due to a major earthquake. The number of deaths and injuries can still be determined with little certainty. According to the latest figures from the Ministry of the Interior, on Monday morning it concerns at least 622 deaths and more than 1,500 injured. Local authorities of the Taliban fear that the death toll will increase even more. Many people are still being sought.
Just before midnight a quake took place with a force of 6.0 on the Richter scale in the province of Nangarhar in the east of the country, on the border with Pakistan. Then a few after -shocks followed.
Due to flooding, roads in the affected mountain area had already become impassable this weekend. Large parts can therefore only be reached by helicopter, the Taliban forces in the country would not have enough. They therefore say they have asked international aid organizations for help.
In October 2023, Afghanistan was also struck by a major earthquake in the west of the country. More than 2000 people died in the province of Herat. In the aftermath of this, not only surviving relatives and care providers struggled with the reconstruction; They also had to determine how they would deal with the Taliban.
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After the earthquake, care providers are struggling with human suffering and with the Taliban
‘Whole villages buried’
The Afghan city of Jalalabad is located in the affected province of Nangahar. Due to its location close to the border with Pakistan, it is usually an important cultural and commercial junction with around 300,000 inhabitants. Certainly in the distant suburbs there are many houses of mud and wood. RISHAD, a 33-year-old man with whom NRC maintains more frequent contact, lives in Jalalabad. He and his family were startled by the earthquake around midnight: “We felt the first very clear,” he writes in a message, “and then we felt more quakes. I counted six, spread in the night.”
According to the BBC, based on local sources, entire villages have been swept away, also in the adjacent province of Kunar. Independent information from the country governed by the Taliban since 2021 is very limited.
Rishad also heard about ‘whole villages that are buried’ under debris and shifted earth. Due to the time at which the earthquake took place, it is likely that most residents were in bed in Nangahar and Kunar; That would contribute, among other things, to the high death toll. According to Rishad, many victims were brought to hospitals in Jalalabad on Monday morning.