HERAT: Afghanistan’s Tali­ban government downgraded the death toll from a series of earthquakes to “over 1,000” on Wednesday, as fresh tremors panicked residents of villages flattened by the disaster.

At least one person was killed and 130 injured in the latest quake on Wednesday. The quake hit at dawn around 30kilometres north of the provincial capital of Herat, where thousands were spending a fourth night in the open after Saturday’s quakes. The German Research Center for Geosciences (GFZ) said the latest quake was a magnitude 6.3, and occurred at a depth of 10km, Reuters reported.

“It’s horrible, the whole of Herat is terrified,” said 32-year-old Abdul Qudus. “We are so scared that even when we see the trees moving (in the wind), we think it’s another earthquake coming.” Disaster management officials initially put the death toll of the weekend quake at 2,053.

But public health minister Qalandar Ebad attributed the confusion to the remoteness of the area and double reporting during the rescue effort.

One dead, 130 injured in latest quake

“When whole villages are destroyed and populations erased... verifying the affected and martyred people, and the number of wounded, is a very difficult process,” he said, adding that 2,400 had been injured.

The office of Herat’s governor said some areas had suffered “huge losses”, without giving details.“Mobile medical teams and officials have been working together and have transferred several injured people to hospital,” the governor’s office said in a statement.

Saturday’s tremors killed at least 2,400 people and injured more than 2,000, the Taliban-run government said, making the quakes one of the deadliest in the world so far this year.

Most of the casualties in that quake were women and children, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said.

Hemmed in by mountains, Afghanistan has a history of strong earthquakes, many in the rugged Hindukush region bordering Pakistan. Herat province borders Iran, which said it would send humanitarian aid.

In the central district of Rubat Sangi, which was rattled by Saturday’s quakes, at least 200 homes were partially or completely destroyed, Governor Noor Ahmad Shahab said, adding that residents had suffered ‘huge financial losses’.

There were no casualties reported so far, he said, as many villagers were already sleeping out in the open or in tents since the earlier earthquakes.

“People need urgent aid,” Mr Shahab said, adding that survivors were falling ill from the colder autumn weather.

Relief and rescue efforts after Saturday’s earthquakes have been hampered by infrastructure left crumbling by decades of war and a lack of foreign aid which once formed the backbone of the economy but which has dried up since the Taliban took over.

Afghanistan’s healthcare system, largely reliant on foreign aid, has also faced crippling cuts.

The European Union said it would provide 2.5 million euros ($2.65m) to humanitarian partners working to provide relief, in addition to the 89 million euro humanitarian aid already allocated in 2023.

It also offered shelter kits, winter tents and hygiene kit, among other relief supplies.

Pakistan, Iran, Turkiye, and China have already pledged to send in food, blankets,

medicines, tents and funds. The UN’s humanitarian office has also announced $5m worth of assistance.

Published in Dawn, October 12th, 2023