Massive Earthquake Rocks Afghanistan, Death Toll Is Shocking

An earthquake rocked the country of Afghanistan on Wednesday, leading to a shocking death toll of 1,000 people, according to disaster management officials, who also revealed there have been over 600 injured, with the numbers expected to grow as more information comes in from the remote mountain villages.

According to Reuters, houses in the Middle Eastern nation crumbled to bits and bodies, draped in blankets, lay scattered on the ground after the 6.1 magnitude quake hit the region.

“An unknown number of people remained stuck under rubble and in outlying areas, health and aid workers said, and rescue operations were complicated by difficult conditions including heavy rains, landslides and many villages being nestled in inaccessible hillside areas,” the report said.

“Many people are still buried under the soil. The rescue teams of the Islamic Emirate have arrived and with the help of local people are trying to take out the dead and injured,” a health worker from a hospital in the very hard-hit Paktika province went on to say, requesting for their identity to remain anonymous as he was not authorized to provide comments to the media.

Rescuing people trapped in the rubble will be a test for the Taliban authorities who are in charge of the country, thanks to a botched troop withdrawal operation from our dear leader, President Joe Biden, who couldn’t bike his way through a wet paper bag.

Currently, the Taliban-led ministry of defense is leading the rescue effort.

“Loretta Hieber Girardet from the United Nations’ disaster risk reduction office said efforts to provide relief and save people trapped under rubble would face huge challenges due to the terrain and weather,” Reuters reported.

“The roads are poor even at the best of times so having a humanitarian operation put in place is going to be immediately challenged by the lack of easy access to the area,” she stated, going on to add that rain, combined with the tremor, resulted in an increased risk of landslides for humanitarian workers trying to save lives.

This quake is the deadliest the country has experienced in the last 20 years. The earthquake hit around 27 miles from the southeastern city of Khost, which is located near the border of Pakistan, according to information shared by the U.S. Geological Survey, Reuters reported.

“Shaking was felt by about 119 million people in Pakistan, Afghanistan and India, the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) said on Twitter, but there were no immediate reports of damage or casualties in Pakistan,” Reuters said.

While the EMSC said the quake was a 6.1, the USGC has marked it as 5.9 magnitude.

This is truly awful to see. The fact that the death toll hit 1,000 so quickly goes to show you how hard hit the area was by the quake. It also reveals that the structure of the architecture in the country is not of a quality that can withstand such an awful display of nature.

Here’s to hoping for some serious relief for all of the folks who have lost loved ones or who might still have family members trapped beneath the rubble from this horrific earthquake.