Local official Ijaz Ulhaq Yaad told the AFP news agency on Wednesday that victims in Kunar’s Nurgal district were still confined to their homes and were difficult to save. He claimed that there are some villages that haven’t received aid yet.
Residents of the mountainous region near Pakistan were huddled in the open air for fear of strong aftershocks and desperately trying to rescue people from submerged buildings on Sunday as a result of a magnitude 6 earthquake.
According to the ruling Taliban government, the earthquake was one of the deadliest to hit the impoverished nation in decades and claimed the lives of at least 1, 411 people and 3, 124 others.
In nearby Nangarhar and Laghman provinces, hundreds of people were killed and hundreds of others were hurt, with the majority of the casualties occurring in Kunar province.
Gul Bibi, an 80-year-old survivor from Kunar, told the Reuters news agency that “I lost everything,” adding that her family was buried beneath the mud and debris of their home.
When Bibi gestured to the tiny child in her arms, “Just this grandson survived,” she said.
Access to already-distant villages has been obstructed by the earthquake’s landslides.
One of its aid teams “had to walk for 20 kilometers [12 miles] to villages cut off by rock falls, carrying medical equipment on their backs with the aid of community members,” according to Save the Children, a humanitarian organization.
The World Health Organization warned that the number of people who were killed by the earthquake was likely to rise because many were “still trapped in destroyed buildings.”
The Ministry of Defense of the Taliban government announced in two days that it had organized 155 helicopter flights to transport about 2, 000 injured and their families to regional hospitals.
No tents were constructed to house survivors in Mazar Dara, despite the fact that a small mobile clinic was stationed there to provide emergency care to the injured, according to AFP.
Without providing further details, a commission of the Defence Ministry announced on Tuesday that it had instructed “the relevant institutions to take measures in all areas to normalize the lives of the earthquake victims.”
A camp was established in Khas Kunar district, according to deputy government spokesman Hamdullah Fitrat, to coordinate emergency aid, while two additional centers were opened close to the epicentre “to oversee the transfer of the injured, the burial of the dead, and the rescue of survivors.”
The disaster could have an impact on hundreds of thousands of people, according to the UN.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric stated on Tuesday that the UN’s humanitarian office raised $5 million from its emergency fund to help with the UN response, and that amount will be matched by $5 million from the Afghan Humanitarian Fund.
Numerous nations have also pledged assistance, despite concerns raised by NGOs and the UN over funding shortfalls brought on by severe aid cuts.
Instead of going to the Taliban government, which the United Kingdom does not acknowledge, it has pledged to split 1 million pounds ($1.3 million) between humanitarian organizations.
One million euros ($1.16 million) will be sent by the European Union, along with 130 tonnes of emergency supplies. The United Arab Emirates and India are two of the nations that have pledged assistance for disaster relief.
On Wednesday, the Chinese embassy in Kabul announced that it had provided Afghanistan with earthquake relief assistance.
In the years since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in 2021, the country has experienced severe drought, endemic poverty, and the influx of millions of Afghans forced back into the country by neighboring Pakistan and Iran.
In a statement released late on Tuesday, Jagan Chapagain, the Red Cross’ secretary-general, said, “This earthquake couldn’t have come at a worse time.”
Source: Aljazeera
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