On Saturday morning, several earthquakes frightened residents of the Afghan border province of Herat, near Iran. In just a few hours, the ground shook nine times and more than a dozen villages were largely destroyed. Military and rescue services rushed to the disaster areas. According to the US Earthquake Observatory (USGS), the two strongest earthquakes were magnitude 6.3.
“The earthquake occurred at around 11am, when the men were not yet in their homes, so most of the injured and dead are women and children who were in their homes at the time,” Abou-Zeid said in a video interview with Portal. He reported that it was “devastating” to see the number of children in critical condition in the hospital.
The NGO Care was also concerned about women and girls: “Their freedom was already significantly restricted and they therefore only have more difficult access to important life-saving services,” said Reshma Azmi, deputy country director of Care Afghanistan. The Taliban have been back in power in Afghanistan for more than two years. The country is politically isolated internationally due to its repressive policies, which mainly discriminate against women and girls. This is one reason why rescue efforts are making difficult progress.
Huge destruction
According to fears, the number of deaths is expected to continue to rise: the civil protection agency NDMA put the death toll on Sunday at more than 2,400, while the UN emergency relief office, OCHA, put it at more than 1,000 deaths. An NDMA spokesperson expressed concern on Monday that the number of casualties could rise further as the situation was still unclear.
20 villages and around 2,000 homes were completely destroyed. In addition to numerous rescue teams, a high-ranking Taliban delegation led by Deputy Prime Minister Abdul Ghani Baradar also arrived in the earthquake zones.
AP/Ebrahim Noroozi Numerous people died in series of earthquakes in Afghanistan
Multiple aftershocks on Monday
Several aftershocks caused concern and shock on Monday. The US Earthquake Observatory (USGS) estimated the magnitude of the strongest of the three earthquakes on Monday night (local time) in the northwest of the country at 5.1. Two more earthquakes had already caused the earth to shake again on Monday, near the provincial capital of Herat.
People clearing the rubble with their bare hands, shovels and pickaxes were sometimes frightened. An emergency room doctor in Herat province told the dpa news agency this morning that there were initially no reports of injuries, but that the new earthquake – whose epicenter was 33 kilometers northwest of the provincial capital Herat – was “quite intense “. leave their homes and seek shelter in parks, open spaces and gardens,” he said. People are in shock and psychological stress is high. Many would have already spent the night outdoors anyway.
Afghanistan: Devastating earthquake in Afghanistan
After the serious earthquake in Afghanistan, the hope of finding someone alive in the collapsed buildings is dwindling.
NGOs ask for donations
The United Nations released five million dollars (4.7 million euros) in emergency aid on Sunday and announced an imminent request for donations after assessing needs. The NGOs World Vision, Doctors Without Borders, Care, Red Cross, Diakonie and Caritas also asked for donations. “Now we need the most necessary things: clean water, food, medical care and emergency shelter. Every minute counts to save human lives,” said Caritas Foreign Aid General Secretary Andreas Knapp – more on this at Religion.ORF.at.
Donation Notice
Caritas Austria donation account: Erste Bank: IBAN AT23 2011 1000 0123 4560, reference “Earthquake in Afghanistan”.
Austrian Red Cross donation account: IBAN: AT57 2011 1400 1440 0144, password: disaster relief
World Vision Austria donation account: Erste Bank, IBAN: AT22 2011 1800 8008 1800, purpose “disaster relief”.
Donation account Care Austria IBAN: AT77 6000 0000 0123 6000.
Diakonie donation account: IBAN: AT85 2011 1287 1196 6333, donation password: Afghanistan earthquake emergency relief
The worst destruction occurred in the Sindajan district, northwest of Herat. Broadcaster Tolonews reported that 80% of the population of a single village died. A shepherd told the station that he was herding sheep outside the village during the earthquake. When he returned, eight members of his family were dead. “My father, my mother, my brothers and sisters with their children were all here,” he said.
EU guarantees solidarity
The European Union (EU) assured the affected population of its full solidarity, as the EU’s chief diplomat, Josep Borrell, wrote on Twitter (X). “EU teams have already arrived at the disaster area to help,” he said, without giving details. Even 300 kilometers away in neighboring Iran, walls and ceiling lights were shaking on Saturday, residents of the metropolis of Mashhad said. There too, authorities put emergency services on alert and sent teams to the border to examine possible damage.
Earthquakes bring back memories of last summer’s catastrophe, when more than a thousand people died in a 5.9 magnitude earthquake in the east of the country. After decades of conflict, many villages with simple buildings are ill-equipped to deal with earthquakes. Strong earthquakes occur repeatedly in the region, especially in the Hindu Kush, where the Indian and Eurasian plates meet.