Earthquake relief teams search for survivors, with backing of Taliban
Print Edition
RESCUERS were yesterday picking their way through rugged terrain and pockets of Taliban insurgency in the search for survivors after a massive earthquake hit Pakistan and Afghanistan, killing more than 350 people.
The toll was expected to rise as search teams reach remote areas that were cut off by Monday’s powerful magnitude 7.5 quake, which triggered landslides and stampedes as it toppled buildings and severed communication lines.
The Taliban encouraged aid groups to help victims of the massive earthquake.
With large mountainous areas of Afghanistan hit and icy weather closing in, the unstable security situation has posed a challenge to international aid groups that have been targeted by insurgents.
However, the Taliban, which have driven their Islamist campaign against the Western-backed government in Kabul across the country this year, indicated they would not stand in the way of aid efforts and ordered fighters to help victims.
“The Islamic Emirate calls on our good-willed countrymen and charitable organizations to not hold back in providing shelter, food and medical supplies to the victims,” the group said in a message of condolence, using its formal name.
“And it orders its mujahideen in the affected areas to lend their complete help.”
Authorities confirmed 228 fatalities in Pakistan, while in Afghanistan, the toll was 115, said Sayed Zafar Hashemi, President Ashraf Ghani’s deputy spokesman.
At least 4,000 houses and compounds were destroyed or damaged, said Afghan Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah.
The death toll could climb as road and communications links are restored to isolated villages, and as winter sets in across the Hindu Kush mountains where the quake struck, the plight of thousands left homeless is becoming more serious.
Food shortage
“We have insufficient food and other aid,” said Abdul Habib Sayed Khil, chief of police in Kunar, one of the worst-hit provinces, where 42 people were confirmed dead.
“It has been raining for four days and the weather is very cold,” he said.
The worst impact was reported in Faizabad, capital of Badakhshan province, but there was also significant damage in the provinces of Kunar, Nuristan, Laghman, Takhar, Baghlan and Nangarhar.
In Kabul, the capital, NATO officials said they were helping Afghan security forces plan relief operations, but aid groups were still assessing how to reach the areas and how to operate given the danger.
“Security is of course a large factor,” said Kjersti Haraldseide, acting country director for the Norwegian Refugee Council.
In Pakistan, where landslides and heavy rain and snow had already left thousands of tourists stranded in mountainous areas, the military was involved in relief efforts.
As of last night, troops had managed to clear and reopen the region’s main road, the Karakoram highway linking Pakistan to China, after it was blocked by landslides.
The earthquake struck almost exactly six months after Nepal suffered its worst quake on record, on April 25. Including the toll from a major aftershock in May, 9,000 people lost their lives there and 900,000 homes were damaged or destroyed.
Monday’s initial quake of magnitude 7.5 was followed by seven aftershocks, of intensity ranging as high as 4.8, the US Geological Survey said. The latest aftershock came just before dawn yesterday.
The quake was 213 kilometers deep and centered 254km northeast of Kabul.
The United States and Iran were among countries that offered humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif returned to Pakistan yesterday after a visit to the US and said the government would announce a disaster relief package.
He later flew to Shangla in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, believed to be one of the worst-hit districts with 49 reported dead so far, where he promised survivors “ample compensation so that they can rebuild better homes.”
Two hundred rescuers have been deployed to the district.
In one of the most horrifying incidents to emerge so far, a dozen Afghan schoolgirls were trampled to death as they rushed to escape their classrooms in remote northern Takhar province when the quake struck.
Bystanders rushed the terrified survivors to hospital, many lying limp in the arms of their rescuers, as doctors tried reviving some of them by pumping their chests. “When the relatives of the dead came to collect their bodies, they were so distressed that they could not even talk to authorities to record their names,” said Hafizullah Safai, head of the local health department.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
