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‘2,000 Killed In Afghanistan Earthquake’

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News

KABUL (Worthy News) – Rescue workers rushed to find survivors Sunday after Afghanistan’s Islamic Taliban rulers said over 2,000 people were killed in the country’s deadliest earthquake in decades.

Men, using their bare hands, struggled to find survivors beneath the rubble in areas where entire villages were flattened, footage showed. Witnesses said bodies were trapped under collapsed houses, and locals waited for help without shovels to dig out human remains.

The 6.3 magnitude earthquake struck on Saturday 25 miles (40 kilometers) west of Herat city in the western Herat province – the third largest in Afghanistan.

It was followed by three strong aftershocks, measuring magnitude 6.3, 5.9, and 5.5, and lesser shocks, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, adding to massive suffering.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mojahid put the death toll at 2,053, with more than 1,240 people hurt and 1,320 houses entirely or partially destroyed. There were fears the number of deaths could rise further.

Rescue teams have arrived in the Herat province, and food, water, medicines, and clothes have also been sent to the site, Mojahid noticed.

However, Afghanistan’s ability to respond to
natural disasters like this weekend’s quake has been hampered since the Taliban seized power in 2021 following the chaotic, deadly U.S. withdrawal. The event prompted many international aid groups to pull out.

BILLIONS FROZEN

It also led to Washington and its allies freezing about $7 billion of the country’s foreign reserves and cutting off international funding. The situation has crippled an economy already heavily dependent on aid.

Those on the scene Sunday were upset by what they had encountered. “Most people were shocked … some couldn’t even talk. But there were others who couldn’t stop crying and shouting,” said photographer Omid Haqjoo, who visited four villages Sunday. He spoke to The Associated Press news agency by phone from the area.

The quake and aftershocks are the deadliest to strike the strict Islamic nation in two decades.

An earthquake that hit eastern Afghanistan in June 2022 struck a rugged, mountainous region, flattened stone and mud-brick homes, and killed at least 1,000 people.

There was some hope in the misery: People in Herat freed a baby girl from a collapsed building after she was buried up to her neck in debris.

A hand cradled the baby’s torso as rescuers eased the child out of the ground, witnesses saw. Rescuers said it was the baby’s mother. It was not clear if the mother survived. The video was shared online.

The tragedy came as Afghanistan had already suffered significant damage from recent earthquakes amid an ongoing economic and hunger crisis that observers said killed and displaced tens of thousands combined.

Last week, the World Bank warned two-thirds of Afghan families currently face “significant challenges in maintaining their livelihoods.” The earthquake was also expected to add to concerns about Afghanistan’s tiny group of Christians who face poverty and the risk of execution if discovered by the Taliban, Christian activists say.