Pictures posted on social media on Thursday show a group of citizens digging mass graves to bury the victims of the Afghan earthquake.
Earthquake casualties in Afghanistan have risen to 1,000 and more than 600 injured, and casualties are expected to rise as information is released from villages in remote mountainous areas, officials said.
Images released by Afghan media show houses wrapped in blankets after the 6.1 magnitude earthquake and also show that an unknown number are still trapped under rubble and in remote areas.
Rescue workers said the rescue operation was complicated by difficult conditions, including rain and landslides, and the presence of many villages in impassable hilly areas.
New: Afghans dig mass graves after more than 1,000 killed in Afghanistan quakepic.twitter.com/QQEHBwKbc5
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“A large number of people are still buried underground and rescue teams from the Islamic Emirate have arrived and are trying to evacuate the dead and wounded with the help of residents,” said a health worker at a large hospital in Afghanistan’s eastern province. Paktika, who did not want to be named because he was not allowed to speak to the media.
Rescue efforts are a major test for the Taliban, who seized power last August after two decades of war and have since been deprived of much international aid due to sanctions.
A spokesman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said teams had begun dispatching ambulances and helicopters from the Taliban-led Ministry of Defense, which is leading the rescue operation.
He added: “Although search and rescue efforts are continuing, heavy rains and winds have prevented the helicopters from working, which are said to have failed to land this afternoon.”
The US Geological Survey said Wednesday the quake was the worst since 2002, 44 kilometers southeast of Khost, near the Pakistani border.
The European Mediterranean Seismological Center said on Twitter that the quake was felt by about 119 million people in Pakistan, Afghanistan and India, but there were no reports of casualties or damage in Pakistan.
Afghanistan is experiencing flooding in many areas, and the Disaster Management Authority says the floods have killed 11 people, injured 50 others and closed long-distance highways, challenging Afghan officials. increases.
The quake comes as Afghanistan is experiencing a severe economic crisis after nearly 20 years of war, with the Taliban movement coming to power and the withdrawal of US-led international forces from the country.
And in 2015, an earthquake shook northeastern Afghanistan, killing hundreds in Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan.
An earthquake shook western Afghanistan last January, killing at least 20 people.
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