KABUL/NURGAL: Rescue workers and volunteers in eastern Afghanistan are still pulling bodies from the rubble days after powerful earthquakes devastated mountainous provinces bordering Pakistan, with Taliban authorities reporting the death toll has surpassed 1,457 and could rise further. More than 3,700 people have been injured and over 6,700 homes destroyed.
The first quake, measuring 6.0 in magnitude, struck on Sunday at a shallow depth of 10 km, making it one of the deadliest in decades. A second tremor of 5.5 magnitude on Tuesday triggered landslides, blocking access to remote villages in Kunar and Nangarhar provinces and complicating rescue efforts. Entire households were wiped out in some areas, and survivors have been left to sift through rubble with pickaxes and carry bodies on woven stretchers.
“Everything we had has been destroyed,” said Aalem Jan, a survivor from Kunar. “Our house collapsed, and all our belongings and possessions were lost. The only remaining things are these clothes on our backs.”
While most cut-off villages have now been reached, hopes of finding survivors are fading quickly. “Many survivors are still believed to be trapped beneath collapsed homes, and the window for finding them alive is rapidly closing,” the World Health Organization (WHO) warned.
