Afghan survivors struggle in the wake of deadly earthquake | News

In the mountains of southeast Afghanistan, whole villages have been reduced to piles of stone and mud.

Nearly one week after a devastating earthquake struck Kunar province, residents are mourning their families and figuring out how they can possibly survive, having lost everything.

A magnitude 6.0 tremor struck the remote mountainous region last weekend, killing more than 2,200 people.

“The victims face only two choices, to leave, or die,” Al Jazeera’s Ali Hashem reported from Kunar province, the epicentre of the quake.

Following the earthquake, strong aftershocks were reported on Friday, injuring at least 10, and raising fears of more death and destruction.

Survivor Gul Rahim from Kunar province lost 63 members of his family in the quake, including his five-year-old daughter Fatima.

“We were asleep at home when, at midnight, the earthquake struck. All the houses collapsed and everyone was screaming,” he told Al Jazeera, sitting on the ruins of his home, with several bags of whatever belongings he could recover.

“I managed to get out, but my youngest daughter was trapped inside, crying, ‘Father, get me out of here!” By the time we reached her, she had passed away,” he said, his voice trembling with grief.

“She was my youngest and most beloved daughter.”

Rahim said another 100 or so of his neighbours were killed in the quake.

“The dead and injured were countless. The earthquake was terrifying, and leads people to despair,” he added.

The majority of victims are from Kunar province, where most people live in wood and mud-brick homes built along steep river valleys surrounded by towering mountains.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said as of September 3, at least 6,700 homes have been destroyed.

Rahim told Al Jazeera he was now living in a tent, and was worried about winter approaching as the area receives “heavy snowfall”.

“What we need most are proper homes to survive the cold,” he said. “I call on the whole world, Muslims and non-Muslims alike, to help us. We have lost everything, even our livestock and chickens. Nothing remains.”

Rescue efforts continue

Treacherous roads, relentless aftershocks and limited aid mean many communities remain cut off.

“Getting here was a harrowing experience,” recounted Al Jazeera’s Hashem. “We were driving for hours on winding cliffside roads, with aftershocks shaking the ground beneath us until we finally made it.

While rescue workers were “working around the clock” in search of survivors, hope was fading, Hashem said. “The official death toll isn’t final, with so many still missing, the number will most certainly rise,” he noted.

WHO has said landslides and blocked roads have obstructed relief work. The organisation has appealed for $4m in funds to provide “life-saving health interventions” coupled with supporting “water, sanitation, and hygiene activities” for residents.

“They need food assistance, safety, and medicine for the children,” volunteer Abdulrahman Sharafat told Al Jazeera.

Afghanistan is prone to powerful earthquakes because it sits where the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates meet. In October 2023, the western province of Herat experienced a magnitude 6.0 earthquake, resulting in more than 2,000 deaths.

A year earlier, a magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck the eastern provinces of Paktika, Paktia, Khost, and Nangarhar, killing about 1,000 people.