Afghanistan Peace CampaignRescuers have recovered hundreds of bodies from mountainous areas of southeastern Afghanistan, which was hit by a major earthquake at the weekend, taking the death toll to more than 2,200, according to a Taliban government spokesperson.
Previous estimates said some 1,400 people were killed. Taliban spokesperson Hamdullah Fitrat said on Thursday that the updated death toll was 2,205.
“Tents have been set up for people, and the delivery of first aid and emergency supplies is ongoing,” Fitrat said.
A third earthquake struck the region on Thursday, as search and rescue efforts were continuing. No new deaths have yet been reported after the magnitude 6.2 earthquake. Sunday’s quake was one of the deadliest in recent times due, in part, to how shallow it was, with its epicentre at a depth of about eight kilometres (five miles).
At least 3,640 people were injured in the magnitude 6 quake on Sunday and a subsequent magnitude 5.5 quake on Tuesday, the Taliban said, with the United Nations warning the death toll could rise as more people are still trapped under rubble, particularly in the worst-hit provinces of Kunar.
“What we’re seeing on the ground is utter devastation, a real catastrophe,” John Aylieff, country director for World Food Programme Afghanistan, told Al Jazeera on Thursday. “We have houses razed to the ground.”
Most of the casualties have been in Kunar province, where people typically live in wood and mud-brick houses along steep river valleys separated by high mountains.
More than 6,700 homes have been destroyed, authorities have said. Survivors are sifting through debris in their search for loved ones. The rough terrain is hindering relief efforts.
Taliban authorities have deployed helicopters and airdropped army commandos to help survivors. Aid workers have reported walking for hours to reach villages cut off by landslides and rockfall.
Obaidullah Stoman, 26, who travelled to the village of Wadir in Kunar’s Nugral district to search for a friend, told the AFP news agency that there was “only rubble left”.
“I’m searching here, but I didn’t see him. It was very difficult for me to see the conditions here,” he said.
Akhlaq, 14, who was injured and evacuated to the hospital, lost five members of his family to the earthquake in the remote village.
“We cannot accurately predict how many bodies might still be trapped under the rubble,” said Ehsanullah Ehsan, the head of disaster management for eastern Afghanistan’s Kunar region.
The World Food Programme has only enough supplies to last for a few weeks, Aylieff warned on Thursday, saying rescue teams are experiencing difficulty reaching remote villages affected by the earthquakes.
“Even our off-the-road trucks cannot get through, so we’re using every means possible, small pick-ups, pack animals, and even in some cases, villagers are coming down and carrying food back to the communities,” he told Al Jazeera.
Afghanistan has experienced devastating earthquakes in the past due to its location at the point where the Indian and Eurasian plates converge.
More than 2,000 people were killed in the western province of Herat in the country’s deadliest earthquake in October 2023. A year before, 1,000 people were killed after a magnitude 6.1 earthquake hit the eastern provinces of Paktika, Paktia, Khost, and Nangarhar.