(Image source from: ANI)
About 622 people lost their lives and over 1,500 were hurt in an earthquake that hit eastern Afghanistan, officials reported on Monday. Helicopters were transporting injured individuals to safety while searching through the debris for survivors. The catastrophe will add to the burden of a country already facing humanitarian issues, including a significant decline in assistance and a large return of its citizens from neighboring nations. The Taliban-led Afghan interior ministry stated that the earthquake registered a magnitude of 6 and confirmed over 1,500 injuries along with the death toll of 622. Earlier, the state-owned broadcaster Radio Television Afghanistan reported around 500 dead. In Kabul, health officials mentioned that rescuers were urgently trying to reach distant villages in an area with a history of earthquakes and floods.
"Reports from a few health centers indicate more than 400 injuries and several deaths," said ministry spokesperson Sharafat Zaman in a statement that suggested the number of casualties might rise. Footage from Reuters Television captured helicopters transporting victims, while locals assisted soldiers and medical staff in getting the injured into ambulances. Three villages in Kunar province were completely destroyed, with considerable damage in many others, according to the health ministry. Najibullah Hanif, the provincial information head of Kunar, reported 250 fatalities and 500 injuries, stating that these numbers could change. Initial reports indicated 30 deaths in one village, with numerous injured individuals sent to hospitals. Rescuers were hurriedly trying to locate survivors in the area near Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where homes made of mud and stone were destroyed by the earthquake that struck at a depth of 10 km (6 miles) around midnight.
"As of now, no foreign governments have offered assistance for rescue or relief efforts," stated a spokesperson from the foreign office. Afghanistan is vulnerable to severe earthquakes, especially in the Hindu Kush mountain range, where the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates converge. A series of earthquakes in the western part of the country last year resulted in over 1,000 fatalities, highlighting the susceptibility of this one of the poorest nations to natural calamities.
