Rescue efforts likely to be hampered by lack of international organizations in the country since Taliban takeover; rescuers arriving by helicopter
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghanistan’s state-run news agency said at least 255 people have killed in an earthquake that struck the country’s eastern Paktika province.
The state-run Bakhtar news agency reported the death toll Wednesday and said rescuers were arriving by helicopter.
The news agency’s director-general, Abdul Wahid Rayan, wrote on Twitter that 90 houses have been destroyed in Paktika and dozens of people are believed trapped under the rubble.
Information remained scarce on the magnitude 6 temblor that struck Paktika province, but it comes as the international community has largely left Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover of the country last year amid the chaotic withdrawal of the US military from the longest war in its history.
That likely will complicate any relief efforts for this country of 38 million people.
Footage from Paktika province near the Pakistan border showed victims being carried into helicopters to be airlifted from the area. Images widely circulating online from the province showed destroyed stone houses, with residents picking through clay bricks and other rubble.
At least 250 killed and scores wounded due to a powerful earthquake in Paktika province in Afghanistan. #Afghanistan #earthquake pic.twitter.com/hwxzJjhZqq
— Prabodth Yatagama (@PrabodaYatagama) June 22, 2022
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“A severe earthquake shook four districts of Paktika province, killing and injuring hundreds of our countrymen and destroying dozens of houses,” Bilal Karimi, a deputy spokesman for the Taliban government, separately wrote on Twitter. “We urge all aid agencies to send teams to the area immediately to prevent further catastrophe.”
A powerful earthquake has killed at least 250 people and left scores injured in Afghanistan
Tremors were felt across more than 500km of Afghanistan, Pakistan and India, according to the European Mediterranean Seismological Centre pic.twitter.com/P606lT0sNm
— Pakistan Observer (@pakobserver) June 22, 2022
Neighboring Pakistan’s Meteorological Department put the earthquake at a magnitude 6.1. Tremors were felt in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, and elsewhere in the eastern Punjab province.
The European seismological agency, EMSC, said the earthquake’s tremors were felt over 500 kilometers (310 miles) by 119 million people across Afghanistan, Pakistan and India.
Content retrieved from: https://www.timesofisrael.com/at-least-255-killed-as-earthquake-hits-eastern-afghanistan/.