Clay blockage: a powerful earthquake hit Afghanistan

A powerful earthquake with a magnitude of 5.9-6.1 occurred in Afghanistan on the night of June 22. More than 1,000 people died and 1,500 were injured. The number of victims may increase – not all data has yet been collected from remote areas of the country. How residents cope with the consequences of a natural disaster – in the Izvestia photo gallery.

According to the US Geological Survey, the epicenter was located 44 km southwest of the city of Khost, where more than 96 thousand people live. In the province of the same name, about 30 local residents were killed, 90 were hospitalized. The source of the earthquake lay at a depth of about 51 kilometers.

Most of the victims in the neighboring province of Khost Paktika with a population of more than 700 thousand people. There, the disaster claimed the lives of at least 255 residents, and about 200 more were injured. Rescuers continue to clear the rubble in time to rescue people trapped in their homes.

Many remote villages are difficult to get to because of bad roads, and locals cannot ask for help because there is no connection – telephone networks do not work. According to Aljazeera, the survivors are digging up the ruins themselves to rescue their friends and loved ones. The dead have to be buried hastily.

The Taliban government has asked for international assistance. The Afghan and Turkish Red Crescent Movements sent medics to the affected provinces. Truckloads of food and essentials from Pakistan also arrived in the country. Iran and Qatar sent humanitarian aid by air.

According to Ramiz Alekperov, the UN special representative in Afghanistan, the Taliban did not apply to the international organization with a request to mobilize search and rescue teams or supply special equipment from neighboring countries. Press Secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov noted that such reports had not been received by the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations and the Foreign Ministry either.

Many international aid organizations are wary of engaging directly with the Taliban because of sweeping sanctions, while others left Afghanistan altogether after they seized power last August. The banking sector is also under restrictions, so the country is experiencing a serious economic crisis.

Paktika’s hospitals are overwhelmed: doctors are under-resourced, and many seriously injured patients have to be transported to Kabul by ground transport, as helicopters cannot cope with the load. The journey takes five hours.

The earthquake coincided with heavy monsoonal rain in the region. As a result, many traditional Afghan houses made of mud and other natural materials have been particularly vulnerable, CNN reports. The number of victims increased and the time of the disaster – it happened late at night.

People who have lost their homes have nowhere to sleep – they stay on the streets. Rescuers fear that such conditions will lead to the spread of infectious diseases. The Taliban government promised to provide financial assistance to the victims, but it is not yet possible to place the bloodless residents under a roof.

Many residents of nearby provinces joined in to help the victims and search for survivors. They come with their tools and try to get into remote mountainous areas in their personal cars.

Earthquakes in Afghanistan occur quite often. In 2015, such a disaster claimed the lives of more than 300 people in the country, as well as in neighboring India and Pakistan. In 2002, an earthquake in the region killed more than 1,000 people, and in 1998, about 4,700.