After the severe earthquake that killed at least a thousand people, aid in eastern Afghanistan is only starting slowly.

Numerous places in the difficult-to-reach mountainous region on the border with Pakistan remain cut off from the outside world, roads are impassable and communications networks are destroyed.

A spokesman for the military administration of the ruling Taliban in Paktika province told the Reuters news agency that it was hardly possible to get a comprehensive picture of the situation.

There is still no connection to many of the particularly affected areas.

Alexander Haneke

Editor in Politics.

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The 5.9 magnitude earthquake surprised people while they were sleeping on Wednesday night.

The Afghan provinces of Khost and Paktika are hardest hit.

According to the USGS, the epicenter was 44 kilometers from the city of Khost, near the border with Pakistan.

According to media reports, the tremors could be felt as far away as India.

According to United Nations estimates, around 2,000 houses were destroyed.

In the underdeveloped region, the average household size is more than 20 people.

According to preliminary information from Wednesday, at least a thousand people died and around 1,500 others were injured.

However, it is expected that the number of victims will increase significantly when information arrives from areas that have so far been cut off from the outside world.

There are also severe storms

Floods and landslides triggered by heavy rains continue to hamper rescue and recovery operations, according to local authority reports.

Many areas of Afghanistan are currently being hit by severe storms, in which numerous people have died.

The ruling Taliban sent aid to the quake area, but have few resources for disaster relief, such as helicopters, special aircraft and clearing vehicles.

According to local media reports, people in the affected villages are trying to dig up the buried people with their bare hands.

Mohammed Jahja Wiar, head of a clinic in Paktika's capital Sharan, told the AFP news agency how overwhelmed the Afghan health system was with the disaster.

"This is a humanitarian crisis.

It's like a tsunami," he said.

Since the Islamist Taliban took power, the country has been subject to international sanctions, although there are numerous exceptions for humanitarian aid.

But the economy has collapsed and the country has slipped into a severe humanitarian crisis.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid announced on Thursday that two planes from Iran and Qatar had meanwhile brought urgently needed aid to Afghanistan.

Eight trucks from Pakistan delivered food and other relief supplies to hard-hit Paktika province.

The United Nations Children's Fund Unicef ​​has already sent several mobile health and nutrition teams to the earthquake area for emergency relief.

Unicef ​​announced that important relief supplies would be distributed, including kitchen appliances, hygiene items such as soap, warm clothing, shoes and blankets as well as tents and tarpaulins.

Thousands of children are likely to be affected by the earthquake.

Other UN organizations have been asked for support by the Afghan authorities, it said.

German relief workers, such as the Johanniter Unfallhilfe, are also on their way to the disaster area.

"In such moments, the only thing that counts is the commandment of humanity towards people in need.

That's why we've already started providing medical aid through our local humanitarian partners," said Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) on Thursday in Berlin.