{"id":12859,"date":"2023-10-10T17:51:08","date_gmt":"2023-10-10T17:51:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/thousands-of-afghans-out-in-cold-after-deadly-quakes-the-express-tribune\/"},"modified":"2023-10-10T17:51:08","modified_gmt":"2023-10-10T17:51:08","slug":"thousands-of-afghans-out-in-cold-after-deadly-quakes-the-express-tribune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/thousands-of-afghans-out-in-cold-after-deadly-quakes-the-express-tribune\/","title":{"rendered":"Thousands of Afghans out in cold after deadly quakes | The Express Tribune"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Thousands of Afghans who survived a powerful earthquake that killed more than 2,00 people were bracing for a winter of homelessness on Tuesday, as rescuers made last-ditch efforts to find survivors.<\/p>\n

Volunteers have worked with spades and pickaxes in Herat province since Saturday’s deadly magnitude 6.3 quake — followed by powerful aftershocks — while others dug graves instead.<\/p>\n

The United Nations said more than 12,000 people, from some 1,700 families, are estimated to have been affected.<\/p>\n

It said “100 percent” of homes were destroyed in 11 villages of Zenda Jan district.<\/p>\n

Zareen, in the village of Nayeb Rafi, where 11 of his family members were killed in the crush of falling masonry, said aid tents would not withstand the winter storms.<\/p>\n

“If the government doesn’t take us away or help us, we will be stuck here,” the man in his 70s told AFP<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Providing shelter on a large scale will be a challenge for Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities, who seized power in August 2021, and have fractious relations with international aid organisations.<\/p>\n

“Not a single house is left, not even a room where we could stay at night,” said 40-year-old Mohammad Naeem, who told AFP<\/em> he lost 12 relatives including his mother.<\/p>\n

“We can’t live here anymore. You can see, our family got martyred here. How could we live here?”<\/p>\n

In the provincial capital of Herat city — 30 kilometres (19 miles) southeast of the quake epicentres in hard-to-reach Zenda Jan district — Doctors Without Borders said the injured now faced a new ordeal.<\/p>\n

“More than 340 patients discharged yesterday don’t want to leave the hospital as they have no homes to return to,” the charity said on social media site X.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Map of Afghanistan showing a series of quakes and large aftershocks in the Herat region on October 7. PHOTO: AFP<\/p>\n

Local and national officials gave conflicting counts of the number of dead and injured, but the disaster ministry has said 2,053 people died.<\/p>\n

“We can’t give exact numbers for dead and wounded as it is in flux,” said disaster management ministry spokesman Mullah Janan Sayeq.<\/p>\n

The UN said Tuesday the death toll stood at nearly 1,300 with nearly 500 more still missing, the majority of them women.<\/p>\n

Afghanistan is frequently hit by deadly earthquakes, but the weekend disaster is the worst to strike the impoverished country in more than 25 years.<\/p>\n

Taliban authorities have banned women from working for UN and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in Afghanistan, making it difficult to assess family needs in deeply conservative parts of the country.<\/p>\n

\"Providing<\/p>\n

Providing shelter on a large scale will be a challenge for Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities. PHOTO: AFP<\/p>\n

Amnesty International said the Taliban government should ensure that rescue and relief efforts are carried out “without discrimination” and guarantee unrestricted access to the affected regions to humanitarian agencies.<\/p>\n

Read also: <\/strong>UN, several nations pledge aid to Afghanistan after major earthquake<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

“It is critical that all assistance meets the needs of the most at-risk groups who often face compounded challenges in crisis situations, including women,” said South Asia regional researcher Zaman Sultani.<\/p>\n

Most rural homes in Afghanistan are made of mud and built around wooden support poles, with little in the way of modern steel reinforcement.<\/p>\n

Multi-generational extended families generally live under the same roof, meaning disasters such as Saturday’s quake can devastate local communities.<\/p>\n

Afghanistan is already suffering a dire humanitarian crisis, with the widespread withdrawal of foreign aid following the Taliban’s return to power.<\/p>\n

Save the Children called the quakes “a crisis on top of a crisis”.<\/p>\n

\"Local<\/p>\n

Local and national officials gave conflicting counts of the number of dead and injured, but the disaster ministry has said 2,053 people died. PHOTO: AFP<\/p>\n

Herat province — home to around 1.9 million people on the border with Iran — has also been hit by a years-long drought that has crippled many hardscrabble farm communities.<\/p>\n

The country is prone to quakes, especially in the Hindu Kush mountain range, which lies near the junction of the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates.<\/p>\n

More than 1,000 people were killed and tens of thousands left homeless in June last year after a 5.9-magnitude quake struck the impoverished province of Paktika.<\/p>\n

More than 4,000 people died in a magnitude 6.5 quake that struck Takhar province in 1998.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n