JALALABAD : The death toll from a major earthquake in eastern Afghanistan passed 1,400 on Tuesday, with more than 3,000 people injured, Zabihullah Mujahid, a Taliban government spokesman, said on social platform X, reports UNB.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rescuers are scrambling in a \u201crace against time\u201d to reach the mountainous and remote area devastated by Sunday\u2019s powerful 6.0 magnitude earthquake, a U.N. official said, warning of an exponential rise in the number of casualties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The quake struck in several provinces, causing extensive damage. It flattened villages and trapped people under the rubble of homes that were constructed mostly of mud bricks and wood and were unable to withstand the shock. Rough terrain is hampering rescue and relief efforts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe cannot afford to forget the people of Afghanistan who are facing multiple crises, multiple shocks, and the resilience of the communities has been saturated,\u201d said Indrika Ratwatte, the U.N.\u2019s resident coordinator for Afghanistan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He urged the international community to step forward. \u201cThese are life and death decisions while we race against time to reach people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is the third major earthquake since the Taliban seized power in 2021, and the latest crisis to beset Afghanistan, which is reeling from deep cuts to aid funding, a weak economy, and millions of people forcibly returned from Iran and Pakistan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ratwatte said that when the walls of wooden and mud homes collapse, the roof falls on to the occupants, causing injury or death. While the area was low-density, the earthquake struck when everybody was asleep.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIf you were to model it based on what has happened before, clearly there\u2019s no question that the casualty rate is going to be rather exponential,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Taliban government, which is only recognized by Russia, has appealed for assistance from foreign governments and the humanitarian sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, help for Afghanistan is in short supply due to competing global crises and reduced aid budgets in donor countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There is also opposition toward the Taliban government\u2019s restrictive policies on Afghan girls and women, including a ban on them working for nongovernmental organizations. Earlier this year, the U.S. gutted aid money to Afghanistan, partly due to concerns that money was going to the Taliban government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kate Carey, who is the deputy head of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Afghanistan, said more than 420 health facilities had closed or were suspended due to the \u201cmassive reduction\u201d in funding, with 80 of them in the eastern region, the heart of Sunday\u2019s quake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe consequence is that the remaining facilities are overwhelmed, have insufficient supplies and personnel, and are not as close to the affected populations as the more local facilities at a time when providing emergency trauma care is needed in the first 24 to 72 hours of the earthquake response,\u201d said Carey.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
JALALABAD : The death toll from a major earthquake in eastern Afghanistan passed 1,400 on Tuesday, with more than 3,000 people injured, Zabihullah Mujahid, a Taliban government spokesman, said on social platform X, reports UNB. Rescuers are scrambling in a \u201crace against time\u201d to reach the mountainous and remote area devastated by Sunday\u2019s powerful 6.0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":29942,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,93],"tags":[48],"class_list":["post-29941","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bangladesh","category-nationwide","tag-48"],"yoast_head":"\n