more than 2000 dead, rescue operations continue

5 mins

The 6.3 magnitude earthquake, followed by eight strong aftershocks, is one of the deadliest the country has experienced in twenty years. This Sunday, one of the government spokespersons said that more than 2,050 people had died in 13 villages, 9,240 people had been injured and that ten rescue teams had reached the scene.

Rescue operations continue. People are still trapped in the rubble in the most affected villages, reports our regional correspondent, Sonia Ghezali. There would be dozens of villages totally or partially destroyed. Taliban authorities announced this Sunday morning that the victims were in urgent need of food, water, medicine and tents. More than 200 remains were taken to hospitals in the region, a health authority official in Herat said.

In the villages of the most affected district, Zendeh Jan, which is the epicenter of the earthquake, 40 kilometers from the city of Herat, hundreds of houses collapsed: the houses are made of earth, so they did not have resisted the shocks. For a former employee of a local NGO, these are very poor villages, where the inhabitants make a living from growing grapes. Villages which are strongly affected by the drought which has hit this part of Afghanistan for several years.

Testimonies from upset Afghans

In the city of Herat, the country’s provincial and cultural capital which is located a few kilometers from the border with Iran, residents describe scenes of fear experienced this Saturday when the earth shook several times. Telephone connections have been cut, making it difficult to obtain information about the worst-affected areas.

Videos posted on social networks show hundreds of people in the streets of the city, in front of their homes or offices. Among the images, we can see gutted and collapsed buildings, people searching the rubble looking for survivors, bodies hidden under heavy blankets.

Fariba, a young woman, describes spending the night outside, after seeing the walls of her house shake for what seemed to her like long, endless minutes. She and her family are safe and sound, and their home was spared. Only one room suffered damage.

“ In fact, during the first earthquake, I was not at home. I was at the bazaar and I didn’t really feel it. But I saw people suddenly crying, they were in shock. Parents were trying to find their lost children and I was shocked to see this, I wondered why people behaved like this. But when there was the second earthquake, we were at home, me and my family, we were very shocked. We were afraid that our house would collapse on us and we rushed outside, and we stayed in front of my house. All the neighbors were crying. I have no words to express what happened », she describes.

Ali Reza, a young student, was at the university when the earthquake struck for the first time, on the third floor of the establishment. Neighborhood residents rushed into the streets crying and screaming, he recalls. Once he arrived home, he found his house intact but his neighbors’ house had collapsed. They then spent the night outside, terrified by the prospect of more aftershocks.

Read alsoAfghanistan: 6.3 magnitude earthquake kills thousands in Herat province

A very alarming situation

The situation is alarming for the victims, insists an Afghan employee of an international organization. She explains that survivors from the most affected villages found refuge in mosques that did not collapse. They have nothing to eat, nothing to cover themselves or to take care of themselves: the nearest public hospital is overwhelmed. Dozens of people rush there to donate blood for the injured victims.

The World Health Organization unit in Afghanistan said it had sent 12 ambulances to Zendeh Jan to transport the injured to hospitals. The organization helps activate the mass casualty load management plan at Herat Regional Hospital and other hospitals. On the Organization’s account

This earthquake occurs in a difficult context. Earthquakes are recurrent in Afghanistan, a country crossed by the Hindu Kush mountain range. In June 2022, an earthquake had already caused more than a thousand dead in the southeast of the country. It is to date the deadliest earthquake in the last 25 years in Afghanistan. Each natural disaster is a challenge for Afghanistan which is still in the grip of a serious internal crisis.