We mourn the loss of so many people killed in a devastating earthquake in Afghanistan. A strong quake measuring 6.0 on the rickety scale hit the mountainous region of the South Asian country near Pakistan border late Sunday, killing more than 1,200 people and injuring around 3,000 others. The quake in Afghanistan is a reminder for us as our country is ill-prepared to face the wrath of such natural disaster.
The earthquake struck Afghanistan just before midnight, shaking buildings from Kabul to neighbouring Pakistan’s capital Isllamabad. More than 1.2 million people felt strong or very strong shaking, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS). The epicenter of the quake was 27 kilometers from Jalalabad city in Nangarhar province.
Multiple aftershocks followed the quake, flattening numerous houses in the remote mountainous region. The death toll is expected to mount. Some of the most severely impacted villages in remote Kunar province remain inaccessible due to road blockages, UN migration agency said in a statement.
A member of the agricultural department in Kunar’s Nurgal district said people rushed to clear blocked roads to isolated villages but that badly affected areas were remote and had limited telecom networks.
“There is a lot of fear and tensions… Children and women were screaming. We had never experienced anything like this in our lives,” Ijaz Ulhaq told AFP. Many living in quake-hit villages were among more than four million Afghans who returned to the country from Iran and Pakistan in recent years, he said.
Soon after the earthquake, the Taliban authorities and the United Nations (UN) to hard-hit areas. A total of 40 flights had so far been carried out in the rescue operation, according to the defence ministry.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in a message of condolence said, ”I stand in full solidarity with the people of Afghanistan after the devastating earthquake that hit the country.”
Afghanistan is frequently hit by earthquakes, especially in the Hindu Kush mountain range, near the junction of the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates.
In June 2022, a 5.9-magnitude quake struck the impoverished Afghanistan’s eastern border province of Paktica, killing more than 1,000 people and leaving tens of thousands homeless. In October 2023, western Herat province was devastated by 6.3-magnitude quake, which killed over 1,500 people and damaged or destroyed more than 63,000 homes.
Afghanistan, which has been ravaged by four decades of war, is already contending with a series of humanitarian crisis. Since the return of Taliban, foreign aid to Afghanistan has been slashed, undermining the impoverished nation’s ability to respond to natural disasters.
We offer deep sympathy to the members of the bereaved families who lost their near and dear ones in the quake and also pray for the early recovery of those injured.
