KABUL (SW) – Over a thousand of people have lost their lives to a devastating earthquake hitting Paktika and Khost provinces in the south east of Afghanistan early on Tuesday.
. Pledges of support
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) says many homes in the quake-hit areas have been destroyed and families are in urgent need of help. The organization added that a team has gone to the area to assess the extent of the damage and help the injured.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees also said it had sent a team to the area. The agency has expressed concern that the death toll from the quake could rise.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) added that as the search and rescue operation continues, a team has been set up for a joint inter-organizational assessment and sent to the scene to assist survivors.
Meanwhile, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has announced the deployment of its assessment teams to the affected areas. The agency stressed that the United Nations and other humanitarian agencies have also been asked to support the local Disaster Management Agency in assessing and responding to urgent needs.
Announcing the readiness of the European Union and a number of countries have pledged to provide assistance
EU Special Representative for Afghanistan Thomas Nicholson wrote on Twitter that the EU was closely monitoring the situation in Afghanistan and was ready to provide immediate assistance to the affected population and areas.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has expressed his condolences to the families of the earthquake victims and said that his country stands by the people of Afghanistan in difficult times. He added that India is ready to provide relief to the Afghan people as soon as possible.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif also said he was deeply saddened to learn of the incident. He stressed that the people of Pakistan share in the grief of “their Afghan brothers”. Sharif added that Pakistani officials are working to provide support to Afghanistan at this urgent time.
The US Embassy in Afghanistan has sent a message of condolences to the survivors of the victims. “We extend our heartfelt condolences to all those affected by this devastating event,” the embassy said in a statement.
Hugo Charter, Chargé d’Affaires of the British Embassy in Afghanistan, also wrote that he was “shocked and saddened” by the news of the earthquake in Afghanistan. He added that Britain was ready to help Afghanistan if necessary.
The Chinese embassy in Kabul has announced that it will stand by the Afghan people.
The Iranian embassy in Kabul also expressed its condolences and said that the embassy had taken the necessary measures to help with the incident. The embassy said it had sent two first aid planes to the quake victims.
– Islamic Emirate allocates one billion afghanis
On Tuesday, the Prime Minister of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, Mohammad Hassan Akhund, has allocated a billion afghanis at an extraordinary cabinet meeting to address the plight of the families of earthquake victims in Paktika and Khost provinces.
Bakhtar state news agency reported that the Prime Minister, while sympathizing with the survivors of the victims and the families of the injured, instructed the relevant departments to immediately address the situation of the victims of the earthquake.
He said that air and ground transport should be used to transport food, clothing and medicine to the affected areas. He has also appointed a high-level delegation to travel to these areas and begin the process of distributing aid immediately.
- Over a thousand lives lost
Earlier, Sharafuddin Muslim, Deputy Minister of State for Disaster Management, told a news conference after noon today that over 1000 people had been killed and 610 injured in a deadly earthquake this morning in Paktika, Khost and Nangarhar provinces.
According to him, 100,000 afghanis will be provided to the families of those killed and 50,000 afghanis to the families of the injured.
The Deputy Minister of State for Disaster Management at the meeting called for global assistance to address the plight of the victims of the incident.
Following the quake, the cabinet of the Islamic Emirate held an emergency meeting to reach out to the victims and injured.
Zabihullah Mujahid, spokesman for the Islamic Emirate, wrote on Twitter that the meeting was chaired by Mullah Mohammad Hassan Akhund, the prime minister of the Islamic Emirate.
Mujahid said that at this meeting, all government agencies have been instructed to send relief teams to help the injured.
- Death toll feared to surge
Earlier, Bakhtar state news agency quoted local Paktika officials as saying that 255 people were killed and more than 500 were injured in a strong earthquake this morning in Bermal, Ziruk, Neka and Gyan districts of the province.
Bakhtar said that 25 people were killed and more than 95 others were injured in the earthquake in the “Afghan Dubai” area of the Spiri district of Khost province. According to local officials in these provinces, these are preliminary figures and there is a possibility of an increase in casualties from this natural phenomenon.
Most of the confirmed deaths were in the eastern Afghan province of Paktika, where 255 people had been killed and more than 200 injured, said interior ministry official Salahuddin Ayubi.
In Khost province, 25 people had been killed and 90 taken to hospital, he said. “The death toll is likely to rise as some of the villages are in remote areas in the mountains and it will take some time to collect details.”
Authorities had launched a rescue operation and helicopters were being used to reach the injured and take in medical supplies and food, Ayubi added.
- Earthuake during humanitarian crisis
According to US Geological Survey, the earthquake occurred at 1:54am (PST), about 44 km (27 miles) from the city of Khost, near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, at a depth of 51 km. The shaking was felt over some 500km by about 119 million people in Pakistan, Afghanistan and India.
The disaster comes as Afghanistan has been enduring a severe economic crisis since the Taliban took over August, as US-led international forces were withdrawing after two decades of war, reported Reuters.
In response to the Taliban takeover, many governments have imposed sanctions on Afghanistan’s banking sector and cut billions of dollars worth of development aid.
Humanitarian aid has continued and international agencies such as the United Nations operate in the country.
- Appeal for International Assistance
An Afghan foreign ministry spokesman said they would welcome help from any international organisation.
Large parts of south Asia are seismically active because a tectonic plate known as the Indian plate is pushing north into the Eurasian plate.
In 2015, an earthquake struck the remote Afghan northeast, killing several hundred people in Afghanistan and nearby northern Pakistan.
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