Rescuers were desperately trying on Thursday to help victims of the earthquake that killed at least a thousand people in southeastern Afghanistan, but their efforts were hampered by lack of resources, mountainous terrain and heavy rains. .

The earthquake, with a magnitude of 5.9, occurred in the early hours of Wednesday in this poor and difficult-to-reach rural region bordering Pakistan.

The point in pictures.


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Olivier JUSZCZAK

  • The earthquake, with a magnitude of 5.9, occurred in the early hours of Wednesday in southeastern Afghanistan.

  • It was the country's deadliest earthquake in more than two decades.

  • At least a thousand people died and 1,500 were injured in the most affected province of Paktika alone, authorities said on Wednesday, who continue to fear that the toll will rise.

  • Already grappling with an economic and humanitarian crisis, Afghanistan is hit by a new tragedy, which poses a heavy challenge for the Taliban, in power since mid-August 2021.

  • "I was awake when the earthquake happened... When I came out of my house, everything was silent, because people were buried under their houses," Zaitullah told AFP on Thursday. Ghurziwal, a resident of Bermal district, Paktika.

  • "It is difficult to access the affected sites" especially since "the area was hit last night by floods caused by heavy rains", underlined the head of the Information and Culture service of the Paktika province, Mohammad Amin Huzaifa.

  • The NGO Save the Children estimated Thursday that more than 118,000 children were affected by the disaster.

    "Many children most likely now have no access to clean water, food and a safe place to sleep," she said.

  • The UN, which pointed out that at least 2,000 houses had been destroyed - each one being inhabited according to it by at least seven or eight people -, highlighted the lack of clearing machines.

  • The Taliban government has called in the army, but it has few resources.

    Afghanistan has only a very limited number of helicopters and planes.

  • Footage shows people clearing debris from houses with their bare hands in search of bodies.

  • The Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, nevertheless assured that the UN was "fully mobilized" to help

    Afghanistan

    .

  • The deadliest earthquake in the recent history of Afghanistan (5,000 dead) took place in May 1998 in the provinces of Takhar and Badakhshan (north-east).

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