Deadly earthquake in Afghanistan kills 1000, injures 1500

Early on June 22, a strong earthquake slammed a remote, mountainous area of eastern Afghanistan close to the Pakistani border, killing at least 1,000 people and injuring another 1,500, according to authorities. The death toll would probably increase, officials predicted.

The magnitude 6.1 earthquake that caused structural damage in the provinces of Khost and Paktika is still largely unknown. Rescue operations are probably going to be difficult because many international relief organisations departed Afghanistan when the Taliban took control of the nation last year and the U.S. military chaotically withdrew from the longest conflict in its history.

Neighbouring The epicentre of the earthquake, according to Pakistan's Meteorological Department, occurred in Afghanistan's Paktika Province, not far from the border and around 50 kilometres (31 miles) southwest of the city of Khost. Such earthquakes can cause significant damage, especially in a place like here where landslides are frequent and homes and other buildings are not built well.

People were seen being loaded into helicopters in footage from the Paktika Province so they could be flown out of the area. Others were given medical treatment on the floor, while hundreds were lying on gurneys, locals could be seen taking IV fluids while sitting in a plastic chair outside of their home's rubble. In other pictures, locals could be seen rummaging through clay bricks and other debris from demolished stone homes.

The number of fatalities was announced at a news conference on June 22 by Afghan emergency official Sharafuddin Muslim. Earlier, Abdul Wahid Rayan, the director-general of the government-run Bakhtar news agency, posted on Twitter that 90 homes had been destroyed in Paktika and that dozens of people were possibly trapped under the debris.

Although he did not provide a precise death toll, Bilal Karimi, a deputy spokesman for the Taliban Government, stated on Twitter that hundreds of people were killed and injured in the earthquake that struck four districts in Paktika.

To avert more calamity, he urged "all assistance organisations to send teams to the area quickly."

According to local authorities, the quake left at least 25 people dead and over 95 others injured in only one area of the neighbouring Khost Province.

To plan the relief effort for the casualties in Paktika and Khost, Kabul's Prime Minister Mohammad Hassan Akhund called an urgent conference at the presidential palace.

Ramiz Alakbarov, the U.N. Resident Coordinator in Afghanistan, posted on Twitter that the "reaction is on its way."