KABUL, Afghanistan: Residents of northern Afghanistan were digging through rubble and tending to the injured on Tuesday after a powerful earthquake killed at least 27 people and destroyed hundreds of homes, officials said.
The 6.3-magnitude quake struck near the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif early on Monday, injuring nearly 1,000 and damaging the city’s historic Blue Mosque.
The earthquake hit the provinces of Samangan and Balkh, with its epicentre located in Samangan’s Kholm district, according to the Afghanistan National Disaster Management Authority (ANDMA). Officials said the sparsely populated area likely prevented a higher death toll.
“Hundreds of houses were completely or partially destroyed,” ANDMA said in a statement. Nearly 956 people were injured, according to Afghanistan’s Ministry of Public Health.
Families lose homes and loved ones
In Kholm district, villagers like Gulabuddin mourned family members and faced freezing nights without shelter. “We lost all of our belongings,” he told AFP.
“Winter is coming. We have children aged four and five. Where can we go? For two nights now we’ve been staying with relatives.”
Rain has turned the village paths into muddy pools, with collapsed walls and roofs scattered across the area.
“If you go inside the shops, you feel afraid they might collapse any moment,” said Mohammad Yasin, a shopkeeper in Tangi Tashqurgan, near the quake’s epicentre.
Terrain hampers relief efforts
Aid delivery has been slowed by damaged roads and poor infrastructure. “The difficulties for relief workers are immense,” said Hosam Faysal, Head of Delegation for Afghanistan at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).
“Winter is already contributing to the complexity of the situation,” he told journalists in Geneva via video link from Kabul.
Several health facilities were also damaged, adding to the challenge of treating the injured, said Christian Lindmeier, a spokesperson for the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Survivors fear the cold
The latest disaster comes just two months after a 6.0-magnitude quake in eastern Afghanistan killed more than 2,200 people.
Many survivors of that earlier quake remain in tents and fear they will not survive the harsh winter.
“We were given a tent, but it’s not suitable for winter,” said 50-year-old farmer Bazarga Safay from Kunar province. She shares a tent with 15 people, 12 of them children.
“People will have to endure temperatures that will soon drop as low as minus 20 degrees Celsius without warm blankets or proper winter clothes,” she said.
Aid shortfall and donor fatigue
International aid groups have warned that their work remains limited due to funding cuts. “The earthquake happened in summer, and the organisations provided aid based on the needs at the time,” said Najibullah Hanafi, a Taliban information official in Kunar.
“Now that winter is coming, they need clothes and things that can help them survive the cold.”
At the foot of Mazar Dara mountain in Kunar, temporary camps have been set up, but most survivors plan to stay put.
A survey by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) found that 77 per cent of respondents said they would not relocate, citing lack of resources or uncertainty about where to go.
Earthquake-prone nation
Local residents are calling for stronger rebuilding efforts. “We want to rebuild our house in the same place, but not in the same way,” said Awal Jan, a farmer.
“If we don’t want our house to collapse again, only concrete will work.”
Afghanistan is one of the most disaster-prone countries in Asia. Hemmed in by mountains and sitting on active fault lines, it experiences frequent and deadly quakes.
On average, earthquakes kill around 560 people annually and cause damage worth about $80 million, according to ANDMA.
