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Afghanistan earthquake.— AFP/VNA Photograph
KABUL — A strong earthquake in Afghanistan killed not less than 100 individuals and injured dozens extra, officers mentioned on Wednesday, with the toll anticipated to rise as rescuers attain distant areas.
The 5.9 magnitude quake struck hardest within the east, bordering Pakistan, the place individuals already dwell hardscrabble lives in a rustic within the grip of a humanitarian catastrophe made worse by the Taliban takeover in August.
“The variety of these martyred within the earthquake is greater than 100,” authorities spokesman Bilal Karimi mentioned.
“Many homes have been broken and folks trapped inside,” he mentioned.
Yaqub Manzor, a tribal chief from Paktika province, mentioned survivors have been mobilising to assist these affected.
“The native markets are closed and all of the individuals have rushed to the affected areas,” he mentioned by phone.
Images and video clips posted on social media confirmed badly broken mud homes in distant rural areas.
Some footage confirmed native residents loading victims right into a helicopter.
Afghanistan is regularly hit by earthquakes – particularly within the Hindu Kush mountain vary, which lies close to the junction of the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates.
Scores of individuals have been killed and injured in January when two quakes struck rural areas within the western province of Badghis, damaging a whole lot of buildings.
In 2015, greater than 380 individuals have been killed in Pakistan and Afghanistan when a 7.5-magnitude earthquake ripped throughout the 2 nations, with the majority of the deaths in Pakistan.
The newest earthquake got here at a time when Afghanistan is battling a extreme humanitarian catastrophe, worsened by the Taliban takeover of the nation.
Support businesses and the United Nations say Afghanistan wants billions of {dollars} this yr to deal with the disaster.
Support businesses have notably confused the necessity for higher catastrophe preparedness in Afghanistan, which stays extraordinarily inclined to recurring earthquakes, floods and landslides. — AFP
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