Kabul: At least 920 dead, and 600 injured in Afghanistan earthquake (Lead). Estimate of 920 people were killed and 600 injured after an earthquake struck Afghansitan’s Paktika province early on Wednesday, the state-run media reported.
Some 255 people lost their lives in Barmal, Ziruk, Naka and Gayan districts of Paktika province, the most-hit eastern province, state-run Bakhtar News Agency reported, citing the latest local sources.
Helicopters and rescue teams have arrived in the affected areas. In neighbouring Khost province, at least 25 people were killed and 95 others wounded, the report said.
The quake, with a magnitude of 6.1, jolted 44 km southwest of Khost, according to the US Geological Survey.
The quake has damaged dozens of houses in the region and also caused land sliding in Paktika, local sources said. Footage from Paktika province showed people being carried into helicopters to be airlifted from the area. Others were treated on the ground. One 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.
Local officials say the death toll could rise if the central government did not provide emergency help.
The Deputy Prime Minister in Taliban-led government, who heads the Relief and Disaster Control Authority, directed all concerned parties to reach the affected areas as soon as possible, and to use all available resources. “Save the lives of those affected and provide the necessary assistance to them,” he was quoted as saying by the state-run news agency.
