- Quake leaves almost 1,000 injured, destroys several buildings.
- Poor infrastructure causes “immense” difficulties in rescue: official.
- China offers aid after UN pledged assistance for Afghanistan.
Residents of northern Afghanistan were sifting through rubble and treating their injured on Tuesday after a powerful 6.3-magnitude earthquake left at least 27 dead and destroyed hundreds of houses.
The quake struck near the northern Afghan city of Mazar-i-Sharif early on Monday, injuring almost 1,000 and damaging the city’s historic Blue Mosque, authorities said. The sparsely populated epicentre meant the death toll was lower than initially feared.
Hundreds of houses were either completely or partially destroyed, according to the Afghanistan National Disaster Management Authority (ANDMA). Aid groups said the figure was concerning just ahead of the Afghan winter, when temperatures drop below freezing.
Relief workers facing ‘immense’ difficulties
The difficulties for relief workers due to poor road conditions and other infrastructure issues are “immense”, said Hosam Faysal, Head of Delegation for Afghanistan at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
“Winter is already completely contributing to the complexity of the situation,” Faysal told journalists in Geneva via video link from Kabul.
Several health facilities have been damaged in the quake, adding to the challenges, Christian Lindmeier, a spokesperson for the World Health Organisation, told the briefing.
Some 956 people have been injured, according to Afghanistan’s Ministry of Public Health.
Buildings at risk of collapse
On Tuesday, residents in Tangi Tashqurgan, an area close to the quake epicentre, were digging out rubble and reinforcing affected buildings.
Mohammad Yasin, a local shopkeeper, said dozens of structures had been damaged or destroyed in the quake.
“If you go inside the shops, you feel afraid they might collapse any moment,” he said.
The disaster is the latest challenge for Afghanistan’s Taliban administration, already grappling with crises including an earthquake in August that killed thousands in the east of the country, a sharp drop in foreign aid and mass deportations of Afghan refugees by neighbouring countries.
The United Nations has pledged assistance along with India, which is seeking to thaw ties with a Taliban government in Afghanistan that is still under sanctions from many Western nations. China said on Tuesday it would also offer aid.
Earthquakes kill hundreds every year in Afghanistan
Hemmed in by rugged mountains, Afghanistan is prone to a range of natural disasters, but its earthquakes are the most deadly, killing about 560 people on average each year and causing annual damage estimated at $80 million.
Rudimentary building techniques contribute to the casualty figures, with experts recommending new structures be built in an earthquake-resistant way and existing buildings be retrofitted to reduce the chances of collapse.
A relatively higher standard of building, comparatively flatter terrain and a lower population meant Monday’s death toll was considerably lower than that of the August quake, said ANDMA spokesperson Yousuf Hammad.
