<Anchor>
A 5.9 magnitude earthquake occurred in Afghanistan, which is suffering from severe economic difficulties.
More than 1,000 people have been killed so far, and the number of victims is expected to continue to rise.
By Jung Young-tae, staff reporter.
<Reporter>
Paktika province, near the Pakistan border in southeastern Afghanistan.
A rescue helicopter makes an emergency landing amid rising red smoke grenades.
Residents put the injured on stretchers and rush them to helicopters.
Houses made of mud bricks have collapsed and look as if they have been bombed.
[Fatima/Afghan residents: It was midnight when the earthquake occurred.
My children and I screamed and our house collapsed.]
According to the European and Mediterranean Earthquake Center, an earthquake with a magnitude of 5.9 occurred at 1:24 a.m. local time today (22nd).
Its epicenter is 36 km southwest of the city of Hosts, which has a population of 96,000.
The shaking could be sensed hundreds of kilometers away, from Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, to Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan.
Authorities in Afghanistan have said more than 1,000 people have been killed so far, but the number is expected to rise as time goes on.
Hundreds of houses collapsed, and it is said that not a few people were buried as the collapsed soil fell.
In Afghanistan, there are many regions where the administrative power of the Taliban government has not been tightly controlled, and the activities of the media and international aid organizations have been greatly reduced.
In addition, the country has been devastated by decades of civil war and is in serious economic trouble after the Taliban took power again in August of last year.
(Video editing: Jinhwa Choi)