NEED TO KNOW
- The U.S. Geological Society reported on Sept. 2 that a 5.2-magnitude earthquake struck about 34 kilometers northeast of the Afghan city of Jalalabad
- A Taliban government spokesperson said the death toll from the Aug. 31 disaster has exceeded 1,411 people
- The European Union, India and Britain are among those who have donated money and supplies for Afghan relief efforts
Afghanistan experienced its second earthquake in days as the country continues to reel from an earlier major quake that claimed at least 1,400 lives.
The latest quake, measuring 5.2 magnitude, occurred on Tuesday, Sept. 2, about 34 kilometers northeast of the Afghan city of Jalalabad, and with a depth of 10 kilometers, the U.S. Geological Survey reported.
The tremor comes as a Taliban government spokesperson said on Tuesday that the death toll from the 6.0-magnitude earthquake on Sunday, Aug. 31, has now risen past 1,411 people, alongside over 3,000 injured, The Guardian reported.
Sunday’s quake struck the province of Kunar, near Jalalabad and its neighboring provinces, including Nangarhar, Laghman, Nuristan, and Panjshir, according to local news outlets Hasht-e Sobh and Khaama Press.
Many people were buried underneath the rubble of collapsed buildings, while the mountainous terrain has made rescue operations challenging, Afghan-based outlet Hewad reported.
At the time of Sunday’s disaster, the Taliban government was using helicopters to rescue those affected by the quake, as the mountainous terrain and landslides triggered by the natural disaster made providing aid challenging.
The United Nations announced on Tuesday that aid workers were still racing to help survivors. The organization’s top aid official in Afghanistan, Indrika Ratwatte, said that the impact from the disaster could be in the “hundreds of thousands” — as in “houses destroyed, injured, casualties, livestock lost and any livelihood systems that they had.”
The U.N. said that its humanitarian air service has arranged more flights connecting Jalalabad and the Afghan capital of Kabul “for personnel and cargo to scale up the response.”
Ratwatte said that the country has long faced humanitarian obstacles, explaining that half its population needs help, and that a drought has exacerbated food insecurity.
“The earthquake comes at a time where vulnerable communities are going to be super-exposed to additional stresses,” Ratwatte said in the release.
On Tuesday, deputy spokesperson Hamdullah Fitrat said that rescue operations are still underway.
“Dozens of commandos have been airlifted to areas where planes could not land to pull out the injured from the rubble and transport them to a suitable location,” Fitrat said, according to ABC News.
Meanwhile, Britain has donated $1.35 million for the U.N. and Red Cross’ relief efforts, while India has provided 1,000 family tents to Kabul and is moving 15 tons of food to Kunar, Al Jazeera reported.
The European Union announced that it approved $1.16 million in humanitarian aid for the reeling country. Officials added that the EU is also providing 130 tons of relief supplies, including tents and clothes.
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“Afghanistan remains one of the largest humanitarian crises in the world, with nearly 23 million people estimated to need humanitarian assistance this year,” the EU said in a statement. “Some 12.6 million people are experiencing acute food insecurity, and mass repatriations of Afghans from neighbouring countries in past months have further increased the population’s needs.”
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