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Afghanistan’s remote and poor villages hardest hit by earthquake | News


Gayan, Paktika – In the early morning of Wednesday, June 22, these mud houses in this remote area of ​​southeastern Afghanistan began to shake and collapse under the force of a 5.9-magnitude earthquake.

Panicked residents tried to wake their sleeping loved ones. But for hundreds of families, there is no time.

Within minutes, the mud roofs of houses in the Gayan district, where poor families of up to 15 people live together, fell on those still inside.

In the hours that passed after those first terrifying tremors, the death toll rose.

By the time people in the Afghan capital Kabul woke up to the news of the earthquake in the far eastern parts of the country, the death toll had reached 90 dead. As of this evening, this number will exceed 1,000 people, including at least 121 children.

Now, three days later, the death toll has exceeded 1,100, and hundreds have been injured.

“Every house here has many missing people; People’s homes were destroyed. Ali Khan said, recounting how 10 family members were killed in the earthquake, including children.

Growing up in Gayan, the 35-year-old says The economic condition of the local villagers was a factor in the scale of the devastation and the death toll.

Nestled in the rocky, unpaved hillsides, the remoteness of these poor villages and their rudimentary mud and wood houses is believed to be the main cause of the deaths of people in Khost. and Paktika – the two provinces hardest hit by the earthquake.

“Everybody is poor here, they build simple houses out of what they have,” says Khan, surveying the cracked walls of his family’s mud house atop arid hills, Khan said. dust in remote areas of the country.

‘You don’t know who to help first’

The Afghan Ministry of Defense began deploying helicopters to the affected districts on Wednesday morning, but by mid-afternoon, those flights had been halted due to torrential rain, hail and dense clouds. covering Kabul and neighboring provinces.

Medical workers in Paktia province, home to a regional hospital in Afghanistan’s southeastern region, told Al Jazeera that the delayed helicopter flights had a big impact on the ability of aid workers and specialists. healthcare professionals to support those most in need.

When helicopter flights resumed, demand was overwhelming.

A pilot who flies flights between Paktika and neighboring Paktia province said he couldn’t believe what he saw every time his helicopter landed in one of the affected areas.

“You don’t know who to help first, it’s just a rush of people desperately trying to get on board,” he said, restarting his helicopter’s engines for another flight.

Samira Sayed Rahman, communications and advocacy coordinator at the International Rescue Committee (IRC), said her organization has deployed mobile medical units to Khost and Paktika, but the need is still huge. .

Fortunately, the IRC has teams in two provinces and in Kabul who are familiar with the communities and geography of the affected areas, Sayed Rahman said.

“Our mobile medical team in Spera (district) reports that most of the deaths and victims they are treating in the district are women.”

Haji Mirwais has been on-site since Wednesday, leading an assessment team and working with several local NGOs to support earthquake survivors.

When Mirwais initially arrived in the Gayan district, he was shocked by what he saw. Nothing, he said, could have prepared him for the level of destruction he had witnessed.

“We counted 1,700 houses that needed to be completely rebuilt. There’s no house anywhere, it’s just mud and wood strewn everywhere,” he told Al Jazeera by phone.

“Paktika is in a bad shape,” Mirwais said, adding that aid has been pouring in from international organisations, businesses, local NGOs and private donors, but still not enough to address the level of need.

Local sources told Al Jazeera that at least four of the 19 districts in Paktika have been severely damaged. According to the United Nations, at least 200 people died in Gayan.

A Taliban helicopter takes off after delivering aid to an earthquake-affected area in Gayan, Afghanistan, June 23, 2022 [Ali Khara/Reuters]
A Taliban helicopter takes off after delivering aid to an earthquake-affected area in Gayan, Afghanistan, June 23, 2022 [Ali Khara/Reuters] (Reuters)

‘I feel that pain, even here in Europe’

Afghans at home and abroad have carried out their own aid campaigns to assist the victims of the earthquake.

Shafi Karimi, an Afghan journalist in France who has started an online fundraising campaign in the hope of raising 10,000 euros, said: “Anywhere possible on the map, if the people of Afghanistan are in pain, suffering, I feel that pain, even here in Europe. to help the victims.

“We may be far away now, but we cannot forget our people,” Karimi said, explaining that he wants his fundraising efforts to be a role model for Afghans in foreign countries whether they left the country last year – since the Taliban regained power – or decades ago.

“I know it’s not much, but maybe I can help a family rebuild one of their rooms, or at least put some food on their table,” he said.

Pashtana Durrani, an education rights advocate who is currently studying in the United States, said she was initially “sworn” to do humanitarian work, but said reports of devastation occurred from affected areas. The hardest hit prompted her to start fundraising efforts and partner with local grassroots groups and NGOs in Afghanistan. She hopes her aid efforts will reach those most in need.

“There needs to be people who are doing their best to serve those affected rather than classifying them based on ethnicity or which faction they fought,” Durrani said.

“The least I can do is provide some little help so they don’t have to worry about where they sleep or what they eat.”

The ongoing sanctions and restrictions on banking in Afghanistan since the Taliban takeover are adding another layer of complexity to both Durrani and Karimi’s fundraising efforts.

Both want to focus on raising as much money as possible, and directing it to those in need, without the restrictions on banking operations in Afghanistan.

Durrani said she wanted to use an app to send money, but the fees would be too high. Karimi says that even trusted services like Western Union and MoneyGram are proving too complicated due to global restrictions imposed on banking after the Taliban returned to power last August.

“It is very difficult to get money into the country right now, but we will find a way to do it. For the people, we have to do this when they need us most,” he said.

Durrani and Karimi are not alone in their fundraising efforts. Afghans everywhere have started helping, including Rashid Khan, Afghanistan’s star cricketer, who has started an online collection, promising that every penny collected goes directly to the victims. cause of the earthquake.



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