Portugal Colonial - Days after quake, Afghan survivors still await aid

A shallow magnitude-6.0 earthquake hit the mountainous region bordering Pakistan late on Sunday, collapsing mud-brick homes on families as they slept.

Fearful of the near-constant aftershocks rattling the area, people huddled in the open air while others struggled to unearth those trapped under the heaps of flattened buildings.

The earthquake killed a total of 1,469 people and injured more than 3,700, according to a new toll from Taliban authorities, making it one of the deadliest in decades to hit the impoverished country.

The vast majority of the casualties -- more than 1,450 -- were in Kunar province, with a dozen dead and hundreds hurt in nearby Nangarhar and Laghman provinces.

Access remained difficult, as aftershocks caused rockfall, stymying access to already isolated villages and keeping families huddled outdoors for fear of the remains of damaged homes collapsing on them.

"Everyone is afraid and there are many aftershocks," Awrangzeeb Noori, 35, told AFP from the village of Dara-i-Nur in Nangarhar province. "We spend all day and night in the field without shelter."

The non-governmental group Save the Children said one of its aid teams "had to walk for 20 kilometres (12 miles) to reach villages cut off by rock falls, carrying medical equipment on their backs with the help of community members".

The World Food Programme shared images of teams hiking up slopes carrying boxes of food aid on their shoulders.

The Taliban government deputy spokesman Hamdullah Fitrat told AFP areas that had taken days to reach had been finally accessed.

"We cannot determine the date for finishing the operation in all areas as the area is very mountainous and it is very difficult to reach every area."

More than 12,000 people have been directly affected by the earthquake, according to ActionAid, noting women and girls were particularly vulnerable in emergencies as they face steep restrictions under the Taliban authorities.

Residents of Jalalabad, the nearest city to the quake epicentre donated money and goods such as blankets to be delivered to those impacted by the quake.

"I am a simple labourer and I came here to help the earthquake victims because I felt very sad for them," said resident Mohammad Rahman.

"If I could do more, I would help even more, but I helped with what I had."

- Deepening crisis -

Around 85 percent of the Afghan population lives on less than one dollar a day, according to the United Nations.

After decades of conflict, Afghanistan is facing endemic poverty, severe drought and the influx of millions of Afghans forced back to the country by neighbours Pakistan and Iran in the years since the Taliban takeover.

Even as the country reeled from its latest disaster, Pakistan began a new push to expel Afghans, with more than 6,300 people crossing the Torkham border point in Nangarhar province on Tuesday.

"Urgent humanitarian aid is needed, and forcing Afghans to return will only deepen the crisis," the Norwegian Refugee Council said on X.

This is the third major earthquake since the Taliban took power in 2021, but there are even fewer resources for the cash-strapped government's response after the United States slashed assistance to the country when President Donald Trump took office in January.

Even before the earthquake, the United Nations estimated it had obtained less than a third of the funding required for operations countrywide.

In two days, the Taliban government's defence ministry said it organised 155 helicopter flights to evacuate around 2,000 injured and their relatives to regional hospitals.

Deputy government spokesman Hamdullah Fitrat said a camp had been set up in Khas Kunar district to coordinate emergency aid, while two other sites were opened near the epicentre "to oversee the transfer of the injured, the burial of the dead, and the rescue of survivors".

Western Herat province was devastated in October 2023 by a 6.3-magnitude earthquake, which killed more than 1,500 people and damaged or destroyed more than 63,000 homes.

And a 5.9-magnitude quake struck the eastern province of Paktika in June 2022, killing more than 1,000 people and leaving tens of thousands homeless.

X.M.Francisco--PC