Afghanistan ends search for survivors of earthquake that killed 1,000

First consignment of India's earthquake relief assistance reaches Kabul Image Credits: ANI

Authorities in Afghanistan have ended the search for survivors of an earthquake that killed 1,000 people, a senior official said on Friday, adding that supplies of medicine and other critical aid were inadequate.

About 2,000 people were injured and 10,000 houses were partially or completely destroyed in Wednesday’s earthquake in a remote area near the border with Pakistan, Mohammad Nassim Haqqani, a spokesperson for the disaster ministry, told Reuters.

”The search operation has finished, 1,000 are dead and the injured are around 2,000, both serious and superficial injuries,” Haqqani said.

He did not elaborate on why the search for survivors was being called off after some 48 hours. Survivors have been pulled from the rubble of other earthquakes after considerably more time.

The 6.1 magnitude earthquake struck about 160 km (100 miles) southeast of Kabul, in a region of arid mountains dotted with small settlements that has often been at the centre of Afghanistan’s decades of war.

Poor communications and a lack of proper roads have hampered relief efforts in a country already grappling with a humanitarian crisis that has deteriorated since the Taliban took over last August.

Haqqani said Afghanistan did not have enough critical supplies to treat the wounded.

”The health ministry does not have enough drugs, we need medical aid and other necessities because it’s a big disaster,” he said.

The rescue operation will be a major test for the hardline Islamist Taliban, who took over as U.S.-led international forces withdrew after 20 years of war.

The country has since been largely isolated, cut off from much international assistance because of sanctions.

Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and the United Arab Emirates all said on Thursday they plan to send aid. Supplies from neighbour Pakistan have already crossed the border.

Large parts of South Asia are seismically active because a tectonic plate known as the Indian plate is pushing north into the Eurasian plate.

In 2015, an earthquake struck the remote Afghan northeast, killing several hundred people in Afghanistan and nearby northern Pakistan.