Jalalabad, Afghanistan (AP) – Ahmad Khan Safi had a good life Afghanistan. Farmers raised livestock in the Dewagar Valley Kunar Provinceand people traveled from all over the country to visit the area. Tourists marveled at its lush landscapes, winding roads and terrifying slopes. The valley looked untouched.
It was difficult to reach, but I couldn’t access it as I had to change cars four times from nearby Jalalabad city in Nangarhar state and walk for a few hours and ride a mule for the rest of the time.
Safi had built a 10-room house out of mud and stone. Because wood and cement were too expensive to transport. The house collapsed quickly Major earthquake It hit at least 2,000 people on August 31st. His shock was quickly replaced by fear and panic.
“I was trapped in the mud and couldn’t breathe,” he told the Associated Press from Jalalabad Hospital. “I had a hard time getting out, but it hit me by a rock and fell so hard that my leg hurt.” He spent the night under the tiled rub, unaware that his family was alive or dead.
The next morning, around 10am, people arrived on foot from other districts when their help came.
Regional remoteness complicates rescue operations
The devastating trembling wasn’t like that strongest or The most fatal In recent history of Afghanistan. However, remote and robust Kunar are against rescue operations. Arbitration The Taliban Authorities deployed helicopters or Air Force commanders to evacuate survivors.
There are no helicopter landing sites in the Dewagal Valley, and there are no roads for vehicles, not to mention heavy machinery. Many of the injured died because they had no way to reach them, Safi said, who was safely carried to people’s shoulders. The flow of homemade stretchers was fooled by the kinder terrain.
“There was not one household without any deaths or injuries, and no one home was standing. Approximately 130 people died in our area.
The whole family was wiped out, he added.
The number of deaths in the disaster exceeds 2,000, but this number could rise as more bodies are recovered from the village, which has been destroyed in the ground and is now a mountain of dust.
“Now I’m thinking about it. All the wealth and savings I had since my grandfather’s time are gone. Now there’s nothing,” Safi said. “My family lost about 300 cows, sheep and goats in the earthquake. All the people in the village were farmers and livestock guards.
“We have no other source of income. We don’t know what to do or where to go because our house has collapsed. We don’t even have a wall left. What will we do in this life?”
“We can’t spend the night in the mountains anymore.”
The United Nations estimates that the earthquake affects up to 500,000 children, and more than half of that child, with the community including people. The Afghans were forced to return They were beginning to restructure their lives from their neighboring countries.
The road and bridge were damaged. Dozens of water sources have been destroyed, increasing the health risks for survivors.
The triggers of rain, landslides and flooding have deteriorated conditions. Schools and medical facilities have disappeared. With so many buildings being destroyed, there are few shelters remaining. People live and sleep under an open sky.
The steep slopes of Kunar resemble war zones. The house, which took years to build, was destroyed in an instant. According to an assessment by the Islamic Relief Charity, only 2% of the Kunar home remains.
Gram Rahman, from Chaukai district in central Kunar province, lost his wife and five children in the earthquake. He was trapped in the wreckage next to his wife for 30 minutes when she took her final breath.
“I couldn’t speak properly because there was dust and a small stone in my mouth,” he said. “I heard her pray.”
Some of his family’s bodies were recovered on the first day of trembling. The rest remained under the wreckage for another 24 hours. Only two of his seven children survived. One was staying at a religious school. The other person was sleeping on the roof.
The rock tumbled from the houses of highlands and mountains to Rahman’s house, even if the ground was opened beneath him. He said many people in his village had died.
Rahman provided a portion of the family’s farmland for burial.
“We have everything and are now destroyed. I want the government to give us flat land. We can’t spend the night in the mountains anymore. We can’t go there because we see dead families.
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Associated Press writer Abdul Kahar Afghan contributed to this report from Jalalabad, Afghanistan.
