Afghanistan quake: rescue teams struggling to reach survivors

“Heard about strong natural disaster in Afghanistan-Pakistan region whose tremors have been felt in parts of India”.

Local met office said that the quake hit the country at about 2:09 p.m. (local time) and its epicenter was determined in Mount Hindukush, located along Pakistan-Afghanistan border, with a focal depth of 193 km.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province has been the worst hit area in the country, with 220 people reported dead, 1,656 injured and over 10,586 houses damaged.

Over 267 people have died and 1,865 people injured in Pakistan following the 7.7 magnitude quake that struck major cities of the country on Monday.

“We are extremely concerned for the safety and wellbeing of children, who are already the most at risk in any disaster and are now in danger of succumbing to the elements as temperatures plummet”, she said. Food and other essentials were ready to go, he said, but “getting there is not easy”.

Badakhshan is one of the poorest regions of Afghanistan, despite vast mineral deposits.

In many areas where houses have been destroyed, people have been enduring freezing conditions. Enamullah Maikheil, spokesman for the Nangarhar public health hospital, said at least 28 people died and 141 were wounded. The AP, citing an Afghan National Disaster Management Authority official, said assessment teams were being deployed to determine “casualties and damage in areas that can be reached only on foot or donkey”. Bajur tribal region bordering Afghanistan was also affected by the quake, with dozens of homes damaged in other tribal regions.

The military has been leading Pakistan’s rescue efforts, sending in medical teams, tents and rations and evacuating a few people by helicopter. The official death toll from that quake, which devastated densely populated areas and caused businesses, homes and schools to collapse, was more than 87,000 people… He admitted that provincial roads had been blocked by landslides, but said those were being cleared.

In the Swat Valley town of Mingora, resident Jamal Ali Shah said the quake “was like the Day of Judgment”.