Rains have hampered relief efforts in Afghanistan since Wednesday’s quake, and officials say people are still trapped under rubble.
According to Afghan media, rescue work is underway to find survivors in the quake-hit area on Thursday and rescue workers are facing difficulties.
“Locals are digging one grave after another,” said Muhammad Amin Huzaifa, head of the information and culture department in Paktika province.
According to officials, the worst-hit province was Paktika, which borders Pakistan, where at least 1,000 people were killed.
Amin Huzaifa said that the number of injured is more than one and a half thousand, most of whom are in critical condition.
“People are still buried under the rubble,” the head of the information and culture department told reporters.
International aid for Afghan earthquake victims
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says the international agency is fully committed to helping.
edical aid teams have been deployed in the quake-hit area while medicines, food and trauma kits are being provided. An emergency shield has also been set up.
Neighboring Pakistan has sent aid to earthquake victims in Afghanistan. The NDMA said in a statement that seven trucks carrying tents, blankets and medicine had been dispatched to Afghanistan since the quake.
India and Iran have also announced plans to send aid to earthquake victims in Afghanistan.
The death toll from Wednesday’s devastating quake continued to rise as it was difficult to reach remote mountainous areas. In this regard, the supreme leader of the Taliban, Habibullah Akhundzada, also warned that this number could increase further.
The quake-hit area was already hit by torrential rains that caused mountain cliffs and landslides, which are now hampering relief efforts.
“It was a terrible situation,” said Arup Khan, 22, who was admitted to a hospital in Sharan, the capital of Paktika province.
There was shouting everywhere. The children and my family were buried.
The magnitude of the earthquake that struck Afghanistan between Tuesday and Wednesday night was 6.1.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif has lamented the loss of life in Afghanistan due to the earthquake and said that Pakistan would help the neighboring country in this difficult time.
Afghanistan’s state news agency Bakhtar reported that aid workers had arrived in the affected areas by helicopter.
According to the US Geological Survey (USGS), the tremors were also felt in Pakistan on Wednesday morning.