Helicopters seek for survivors as earthquake kills greater than 800 individuals

[ad_1] Watch: Buildings destroyed and rescue efforts below approach after lethal Afghanistan earthquake

Rescuers on helicopters are looking out the ruins of distant villages in jap Afghanistan for survivors of a strong earthquake that has killed 800 individuals and injured 1,800 others.

Many are feared trapped below the rubble of their houses after the magnitude 6.0 earthquake struck on Sunday close to the nation's border with Pakistan.

Authorities searched by air for the second day on Tuesday as roads blocked with particles and the mountainous terrain within the affected areas made land journey troublesome.

The Taliban authorities has appealed for worldwide assist. The UN has launched emergency funds, whereas the UK has pledged £1m ($1.3m) in help.

Sunday's earthquake was one of many strongest to hit Afghanistan in recent times. The nation could be very vulnerable to earthquakes as a result of it's situated on prime of various fault strains the place the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates meet.

In 2023, greater than 1,400 individuals died after a collection of 6.3-magnitude earthquakes hit western Afghanistan, close to town of Herat.

Survivors of Sunday's earthquake had been delivered to a hospital in Jalalabad, which has been overwhelemed with tons of of sufferers day by day even earlier than the catastrophe.

Mir Zaman advised the BBC that he pulled his lifeless youngsters out of the rubble by himself.

"It was darkish. There was no mild. Somebody lent me a lamp, after which I used a shovel and choose axe to dig them out. There was nobody to assist as a result of everybody was affected. So many individuals died in my village. Some are nonetheless buried. Entire households have died," he mentioned.

Two-and-a-half-year-old Maiwand suffered head accidents and blood loss.

"You possibly can see his scenario. It is so tragic. The earthquake was lethal. I need the medical doctors to deal with him, to remedy him," mentioned the kid's uncle, Khawat Gul.

The newest earthquake hit Afghanistan when it's reeling below extreme drought and what the UN calls an unprecedented disaster of starvation.

The nation has additionally skilled large help cuts particularly from the US this yr which is additional lowering the help that many of those individuals might have gotten. This catastrophe could not have come at a worse time.

Britain's Overseas Secretary David Lammy mentioned help from the UK might be "channelled by skilled companions", the UN Inhabitants Fund (UNFPA) and the Worldwide Purple Cross.

India delivered 1,000 tents to Kabul, its international minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar wrote on X after talking to his Taliban counterpart Amir Khan Muttaqi.

The Indian mission can also be serving to to maneuver 15 tonnes of meals from Kabul to Kunar province, which has been badly hit by the earthquake, he mentioned, including that India would ship extra reduction objects.

China and Switzerland have additionally pledged assist.

Survivors will want housing, shelter and blankets, mentioned Amy Martin, who leads the United Nations Workplace for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Afghanistan.