The world's deadliest earthquake in two decades rocked eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday, killing at least 1,000 people, injuring 1,500 more and destroying buildings in two mountainous provinces.
Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada told the state-run Bakhtar News Agency the death toll from the magnitude 6.1 temblor near the Pakistani border was likely to rise. Hundreds of homes and other buildings were destroyed, he said.
The quake struck about 30 miles southwest of Khost shortly after 01:30 a.m. local time, when many people were sleeping in their homes. The European seismological agency estimated the earthquake’s tremors were felt over 300 miles by 119 million people across Afghanistan, Pakistan and India.
Photos from the scene showed rubble and ruins, with some evacuations from the remote area underway via helicopter. In one village near Khost, a resident could be seen receiving IV fluids while sitting in a plastic chair outside the rubble of his home and still more were sprawled on gurneys. Other images showed residents picking through clay bricks and other rubble from destroyed stone houses.
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The director-general of state-run Bakhtar news agency, Abdul Wahid Rayan, wrote on Twitter that at least 90 houses have been destroyed in Paktika and dozens of people are believed trapped under the rubble. Tents, tarps and kitchen utensils were being sent to the area by the Red Crescent Society, he said.
Prime Minister Mullah Mohammad Hassan Akhand pledged $10 million to immediately aid families in Paktika and Khost provinces.
Bilal Karimi, a deputy spokesman for the Taliban government wrote on Twitter that "we urge all aid agencies to send teams to the area immediately to prevent further catastrophe."
Many international aid agencies left Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover of the country last year.
In Kabul, Prime Minister Mohammad Hassan Akhund convened an emergency meeting at the presidential palace to coordinate the relief effort for victims in Paktika and Khost.
U.N. resident coordinator in Afghanistan, Ramiz Alakbarov, tweeted that "teams are on grounds delivering first aid in affected areas in Paktika, Giyan and Barmal. More help is being mobilized."
Some remote areas of Pakistan saw reports of damage to homes near the Afghan border, but it wasn't immediately clear if that was due to rain or the earthquake, said Taimoor Khan, a disaster management spokesperson in the area.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif issued a statement saying he was "deeply grieved" by the tragedy.
"People in Pakistan share the grief and sorrow of their Afghan brethren," he said. "Relevant authorities working to support Afghanistan in this time of need."
In 2015, a major earthquake that struck the country’s northeast killed over 200 people in Afghanistan and neighboring northern Pakistan. A 6.1-magnitude earthquake in 2002 killed about 1,000 people in northern Afghanistan. And in 1998, another earthquake of the same strength and subsequent tremors in Afghanistan’s remote northeast killed at least 4,500 people.
Contributing: The Associated Press
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