Death toll rises to 2,400 and injuries to 2,000 in the earthquake in Afghanistan

The number of victims for one of the worst earthquakes and its consecutive aftershocks in the province of Herat, in the west of Afghanistanincreased this Sunday to more than 2,400 dead and more than 2,000 injured, while humanitarian teams and organizations speed up the rescue efforts of victims.

“According to new information, the death toll from the earthquake has increased to more than 2,400 and the injured to more than 2,000,” the spokesperson for the Ministry of Disaster Management, Mula Janan Sayeq, informed EFE.

The earthquake that occurred yesterday especially hit the district of Zindah Khan, in the province of Herat, the epicenter of the earthquakes, where a dozen villages were completely devastated, according to data from the Taliban authorities.

Images of the tragedy show villages in ruins, the inhabitants of the devastated areas lifting by hand, without any type of machinery, the rubble of their houses, in the hope of finding the bodies of their families.

This is the third deadliest earthquake since 1998 in Afghanistan and the worst catastrophe the Taliban have had to face since they took control of Afghanistan in August 2021without access to the financial system and international reserves.

The Taliban government appealed to charities, businessmen and “wealthy” citizens of Afghanistan to provide assistance to those affected.

Institutions like the World Health Organization (WHO) or the Afghan Red Crescent Society (ARCS) are on the ground expediting rescue efforts, caring for the victims and moving the inhabitants to safer areas.

Afghanistan felt at least seven tremors yesterday. The first and fourth, the largest, were 6.3 degrees and occurred in the Zindah Jan district, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS, in English).

It is one of the worst earthquakes recorded in the country in recent decades.

The Asian country is among the most prone to natural disasters, being located in the Hindu Kush mountain range, a point of great seismic activity and a common point of origin of telluric movements in the region.