Rescuers worked hard on Tuesday to search the rubble of houses devastated by the powerful earthquake which killed more than 2,000 people in western Afghanistan, in the hope of finding survivors, while thousands of victims are without shelter as winter approaches.
Equipped with shovels and picks, volunteers have worked tirelessly since the magnitude 6.3 earthquake struck on Saturday, followed by eight aftershocks, in the province of Herat.
The United Nations estimated that more than 12,000 people, members of 1,700 families, were affected.
Earthquakes are common in Afghanistan, but this is the deadliest to hit the poor country in more than 25 years. New aftershocks were felt Monday in the same area.
“There are families who no longer have anyone alive,” says Ali Mohammad, 50, with a sigh, about the village of Nayeb Rafi, which previously housed 2,000 families. “There is no one left, not a woman, not a child, no one. »
Zareen, who lost eleven family members in this village, believes that tents to shelter the homeless will be insufficient to withstand winter storms.
“If the government does not evacuate us or does not help us, we will be stuck here,” this septuagenarian told Agence France-Presse.
“There is no longer a single house, not even a room where we could spend the night,” says Mohammad Naeem, 40, who lost twelve relatives including his mother.
There is not a single house left, not even a room where we could spend the night
In the neighboring village of Siah Ab, mass funerals were held on Monday for around 300 victims from surrounding communities.
Hundreds of bodies, covered with a white sheet, were placed on the ground, while villagers who had come to pay their respects crossed their arms in prayer.
“I thought I was dreaming, everything was razed,” relates Ismail, 30, who like many Afghans only has one name. ” There is not anybody. »
According to the UN, “100%” of houses were destroyed in 11 villages in the rural district of Zenda Jan, located some 30 kilometers northwest of the city of Herat, capital of the province of the same name.
“People are trying to search and get their families out of the debris,” Disaster Management Ministry spokesman Mullah Janan Sayeq told reporters on Monday, describing a “very bad situation.”
In Herat, 30 km southeast of the epicenter, Doctors Without Borders points out that the injured who need to be released from hospital have nowhere to go.
“More than 340 patients released yesterday do not want to leave the hospital because they do not have a home,” the NGO said on the social network
Local and national authorities have given sometimes conflicting figures on the number of people killed or injured. But the Ministry of Disaster Management put the death toll at 2,053 on Sunday.
“We cannot give exact figures for the dead and injured, because they fluctuate,” Mullah Sayeq explained on Monday.
The UN said Tuesday that the death toll stood at nearly 1,300 dead and nearly 500 missing, the majority of whom were women.
Trucks full of food, water and blankets reached isolated villages, where blue tents were pitched amid the ruins.
The Taliban, who regained power in August 2021, will face a major logistical challenge: rehousing residents as winter approaches.
The authorities have complicated relations with international humanitarian organizations.
They banned women from working for the UN and NGOs, making it difficult to assess the needs of families in the most conservative parts of the country.
“Unrestricted access”
Amnesty International has called on the Taliban government to ensure that rescue and humanitarian assistance efforts are carried out “without discrimination” and to guarantee NGOs “secure and unrestricted access” to affected regions.
“It is crucial that all aid meets the needs of the most at-risk groups, who often face multiple challenges in crisis situations, including women,” said Zaman Sultani, South Asia researcher at Amnesty.
Most rural houses in the country are made of sun-dried mud bricks and wooden support posts. Several generations generally live under the same roof.
Save the Children spoke of “a crisis on top of another crisis”. According to its country director, Arshad Malik, “the extent of the damage is terrifying. The number of people affected by this tragedy is truly overwhelming.”
This new tragedy comes at a time when Afghanistan is already suffering from a serious humanitarian crisis, with the widespread withdrawal of foreign aid since the Taliban’s return to power.
The province of Herat, which has 1.9 million inhabitants according to World Bank data, has also been hit for years by a drought which has paralyzed many agricultural communities already plagued by countless difficulties.