HERAT: The death toll from a series of earthquakes in western Afghanistan rose sharply on Sunday to more than 2,000, the Taliban government said, as bodies continued to be pulled from demolished villages and buried in mass graves.

More than 1,300 homes were toppled when Saturday’s magnitude 6.3 quake, followed by eight strong aftershocks, jolted hard-to-reach areas, some 30km northwest of the provincial capital of Herat, according to officials.

In the rural Zinda Jan district, village households were reduced to jumbles of broken masonry, where makeshift rescue teams continued to dig trenches on Sunday.

Aid gradually trickled into the disaster zone including food, water, tents and coffins for the dead who were pulled from the rubble by excavators and men with pickaxes and shovels.

Pakistan expresses sorrow over tragedy, calls on world community to support calamity-hit country

Some of the bodies were shrouded in fleece blankets, as workers used those same tools to excavate their communal graves in the gravelly brown earth.

“Everyone is busy searching for the bodies everywhere, we don’t know if there are others as well under the debris,” said 32-year-old volunteer rescue worker Khalid.

“These people got destroyed,” he said.

Disaster management ministry spokesman Mullah Janan Sayeq said the nation “witnessed an unprecedented earthquake”, putting the number of dead at 2,053 across 13 villages around midday on Sunday.

“For the treatment of the victims of the incident we are doing our best,” he told reporters in Kabul. “On-site search operations in the affected area are ongoing.” He also gave a figure of more than 9,000 injured but later retracted that, saying it referred to the number of residents in the affected area.

‘Crisis on top of a crisis’

Most rural homes in Afghanistan are made of mud built around wooden support poles. Multi-generational extended families generally live under the same roof, indicating that disasters like Saturday’s quake can devastate local communities.

In Herat city, residents fled homes and schools while hospitals and offices evacuated when the first quake was felt. There were few reports of casualties in the metropolitan area.

Afghanistan is already suffering a dire humanitarian crisis, with the widespread withdrawal of foreign aid after Taliban’s return to power in 2021.

Save the Children called the quake ‘a crisis on top of a crisis’. “The scale of the damage is horrific. The numbers affected by this tragedy are truly disturbing,” said country director Arshad Malik.

‘Everything turned to sand’

Amir Hussain, 33, toiled through the night as hopes faded and the rescue effort turned into a recovery operation in Kashkak village of Zinda Jan district.

“We took out several bodies, three of them were little children, and one of them was split apart,” he said. “They had just come from their school. One of them was killed in the street and two others in their home.”

In nearby Sarboland village, an AFP reporter saw houses ruined near the epicentre of the quakes. Gutted homes showed personal belongings flapping in the harsh wind, as women and children lingered out in the open.

“In the very first shake all the houses collapsed,” said 42-year-old Bashir Ahmad.

“Those who were inside the houses were buried,” he said. “There are families we have heard no news from.”

Nek Mohammad said he was at work when the first quake struck at around 11am. “We came home and saw that actually there was nothing left. Everything had turned to sand,” he said.

Pakistanis deeply saddened

Pakistan expressed deep sorrow over the loss of precious lives and properties in the devastating earthquake.

In a statement issued on Sunday, President Dr Arif Alvi expressed his deep sorrow over the tragedy and called upon the international community and the Muslim world to support Afghanistan in this hour of need.

Dr Alvi also prayed to Allah Almighty to grant eternal peace to the departed souls and early recovery to those injured in the disastrous earthquake.

The Foreign Office stated: “The government and people of Pakistan are deeply saddened by the devastating earthquake in western regions of Afghanistan yesterday, resulting in tragic loss of life and widespread damage to property.”

“We extend our sincerest condolences to the families of those who lost their loved ones and pray for the early and complete recovery of the injured,” the FO statement added.

It said that Pakistan stands in complete solidarity with our brothers and sisters in Afghanistan during this difficult time. “We are in contact with the Afghan authorities to get a first-hand assessment of the urgent needs of those affected by the earthquake. Pakistan will extend all possible support to the recovery effort,” it stated. — With input from Kashif Abbasi in Islamabad

Published in Dawn, October 9th, 2023