Afghan quake aid trickles in but rescue efforts hampered

• Published date: 23 June 2022
• Publication title: Shanghai Daily

id began arriving yesterday in a remote part of Afghanistan where an earthquake killed 1,000 people but poor communications and a lack of proper roads are hampering relief efforts in a country already grappling with a humanitarian crisis.

The magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck early on Wednesday about 160 kilometers southeast of Kabul, in arid mountains dotted with small settlements near the Pakistan border.

"We can't reach the area, the networks are too weak, we trying to get updates," Mohammad Ismail Muawiyah, a spokesman for the top Taliban military commander in hardest-hit Paktika Province, said, referring to telephone networks.

The temblor killed some 1,000 people and injured 1,500, he said. More than 3,000 houses were destroyed.

The toll makes it Afghanistan's deadliest earthquake in two decades, according to US government data.

bout 1,000 people had been rescued from various areas by yesterday morning, Sharafat Zaman, a spokesperson for the health ministry said. "Aid has arrived to the area and it is continuing but more is needed."

The town of Gayan, close to the epicenter, sustained significant damage with most of its mud-walled buildings damaged or completely collapsed.

The town, with only the most basic roads, was bustling with Taliban soldiers and ambulances as a helicopter bringing in relief supplies landed nearby, whipping up huge swirls...