Afghan earthquake deaths top 2,200, survivors face aid crunch

Rescuers on Thursday pulled bodies from the rubble of homes razed in Afghanistan’s earthquakes as the confirmed death toll topped 2,200, while homeless survivors faced a bleak future with global aid agencies warning of dwindling resources.

Search operations continued in the quake-hit mountainous eastern areas, the Taliban administration said, announcing a new death toll of 2,205 with at least 3,640 people injured.

“Everything we had has been destroyed,” said Aalem Jan, whose house in the worst-affected province of Kunar was flattened by the tremors.

“The only remaining things are these clothes on our backs,” Jan said. His family sat under trees with their belongings piled next to them.

The first earthquake of magnitude 6, one of Afghanistan’s deadliest in recent years, unleashed widespread damage and destruction in the provinces of Kunar and Nangarhar on Sunday, when it struck at a shallow depth of 10km (6 miles).

A second quake of magnitude 5.5 on Tuesday caused panic and interrupted rescue efforts as it sent rocks sliding down mountains and cut off roads to villages in remote areas.