Survivors of two devastating earthquakes in Afghanistan are racing against time as food, water and medical supplies run dangerously low. More than 1,400 people have died, at least 3,394 are injured, and thousands of homes lie in ruins, according to Taliban authorities.
A fresh tremor of magnitude 5.5 on Tuesday shook the same southeastern region hit by a stronger 6.0 quake on Sunday, flattening villages and cutting off rescue teams. “Every home here has either collapsed or cracked beyond repair. Families are still digging with their bare hands,” said Safiullah Noorzai, a relief worker with humanitarian platform Aseel.
The Afghan army has begun airdropping commando teams into mountain villages where helicopters cannot land. They are pulling survivors from the rubble and carrying the wounded to safer ground. “This is a fight against time and terrain,” said Ehsanullah Ehsan, the head of disaster management in Kunar province.
The United Nations has warned of a looming food crisis. The World Food Programme (WFP) says it has only four weeks of stocks left for survivors. “Four weeks is not enough to cover even the basic needs, let alone help people rebuild,” WFP’s Afghanistan head John Aylieff told Reuters. Funding for Afghanistan has fallen sharply, from $1.7 billion in 2022 to under $300 million this year.
Save the Children urged the world to act immediately. “Clean water, food and shelter are running out. This is now a race to save lives,” said Samira Sayed Rahman, the group’s programmes director.
Afghanistan, a nation of 42 million battered by war and poverty, remains prone to deadly earthquakes, especially in the Hindu Kush mountains where tectonic plates collide. For survivors, the fear is not only of aftershocks—but of hunger, disease, and being forgotten.
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