ISLAMABAD: Afghan authorities on Wednesday airdropped special forces into quake-hit mountain villages to pull survivors from rubble after two powerful earthquakes killed at least 1,411 people and injured more than 3,000.
The first 6.0-magnitude tremor struck Kunar and Nangarhar provinces around midnight on Sunday, flattening mud-brick homes. A second 5.5 quake on Tuesday triggered landslides, cut off roads, and halted initial rescue efforts.
“Dozens of commando forces are being airdropped where helicopters cannot land,” said Ehsanullah Ehsan, head of disaster management in Kunar, quoted as saying by News Agency, Reuters.
Camps and coordination centres have been set up for evacuations, burials and aid delivery, he added
UN: ‘Casualty rate exponential’
Officials said, rescuers had used helicopters to ferry the wounded to hospital as they battled with mountainous terrain and harsh weather to reach quake-hit villages along the border with Pakistan, where the tremors flattened mudbrick homes.
The United Nations warned the true toll could rise sharply.
“We think potentially the impacted individuals would go up to hundreds of thousands,” said Indrika Ratwatte, UN humanitarian coordinator in Afghanistan. He added that homes of mud and timber collapsed on families as they slept, suffocating many.
Access remains extremely difficult due to rockfalls and blocked mountain roads, with helicopters the only lifeline for remote communities.
Hospitals struggle
Médecins Sans Frontières said trauma kits were sent to two hospitals overwhelmed with quake victims.
“We saw many patients treated in corridors, with health workers in urgent need of supplies,” said Dr Fazal Hadi, MSF’s deputy medical coordinator.
OCHA warned that more than 5,400 homes have been destroyed, worsened by unstable ground after heavy rains.
Pakistan and EU aid
Pakistan pledged “full support” to its neighbour, with Deputy PM Ishaq Dar offering assistance in a call to Afghan foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi.
The EU announced two special flights carrying 130 tonnes of tents, clothes and medical supplies, along with €1m ($1.1m) in new funding.
Quake-prone nation
Afghanistan sits on the Hindu Kush fault line, where the Indian and Eurasian plates meet. With limited international recognition of the Taliban government, aid efforts remain underfunded, the UN says its $2.4bn appeal for 2025 is only 28 percent covered.
