Sahara Reporters
At least 920 persons have died from the impact of a powerful earthquake which struck a border region of Afghanistan on Wednesday evening.
According to officials, another 1,500 persons got injured from the 5.9 magnitude quake. The toll is expected to rise as rescuers dig through collapsed buildings, AFP reports.
The incident comes at a time when Afghanistan is already battling a severe humanitarian disaster, worsened by the Taliban takeover of the country.
Aid agencies and the United Nations say Afghanistan needs billions of dollars this year to tackle the crisis.
Meanwhile, the death toll has climbed steadily all day as news of casualties filtered in from hard-to-reach areas in the mountains, and the country’s supreme leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada, warned it would likely rise further.
“So far the information we have is that at least 920 people have been martyred and 600 injured,” Sharafuddin Muslim, the deputy minister for disaster management, told a press conference in the capital, Kabul.
A leader from Paktika province, Yaqub Manzor, told newsmen that survivors and rescuers were scrambling to help those affected.
“The local markets are closed and all the people have rushed to the affected areas,” Manzor said.
A senior Taliban official, Anas Haqqani, said, “The government is working within its capabilities.
“We hope that the International Community & aid agencies will also help our people in this dire situation.”
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) in Afgha…
