Desk Report
Publish: 22 Jun 2022, 03:40 pm
People carry injured to a helicopter following a massive earthquake, in Paktika Province, Afghanistan, June 22, 2022, in this screen grab taken from a video || Photo: REUTERS
An
earthquake of magnitude 6.1 killed 950 people in Afghanistan early on
Wednesday, disaster management officials said, with more than 600 injured and
the toll expected to grow as information trickles in from remote mountain
villages.
Photographs
on Afghan media showed houses reduced to rubble, with bodies swathed in
blankets lying on the ground.
Helicopters
were deployed in the rescue effort to reach the injured and fly in medical
supplies and food, said an interior ministry official, Salahuddin Ayubi.
"The
death toll is likely to rise as some of the villages are in remote areas in the
mountains and it will take some time to collect details."
Wednesday's
quake was the deadliest since 2002. It struck about 44 km (27 miles) from the
southeastern city of Khost, near the border with Pakistan, the U.S. Geological Survey
(USGC) said.
Most
of the confirmed deaths were in the eastern province of Paktika, where 255
people were killed and more than 200 injured, Ayubi added. In the province of
Khost, 25 were dead and 90 had been taken to hospital.
Haibatullah
Akhundzada, the supreme leader of the ruling Taliban, offered his condolences
in a statement.
Mounting
a rescue operation could prove a major test for the Taliban, who took over the
country in August and have been cut off from much international assistance
because of sanctions.
Shaking
was felt by about 119 million people in Pakistan, Afghanistan and India, the
EMSC said on Twitter, but there were no immediate reports of damage or
casualties in Pakistan.
The
EMSC put the earthquake's magnitude at 6.1, though the USGC said it was 5.9._Reuters
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Topic : Afghanistan Earthquake South Asia Asia
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