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Five killed in aftershock in Afghanistan

Desk Report || risingbd.com

Published: 21:25, 24 June 2022  
Five killed in aftershock in Afghanistan

An aftershock shook a hard-hit area of eastern Afghanistan on Friday, two days after an earthquake rattled the region, razing hundreds of mud-brick homes and killing 1,150 people, according to state media. The temblor was the poverty-stricken country's deadliest in two decades, reports cbsnews.

Pakistan's Meteorological Department reported a 4.2 magnitude quake in southeastern Afghanistan. The Reuters news agency pointed out that its epicenter was in almost the exact same place as Wednesday's quake. Afghanistan's state-run Bakhtar News Agency said the aftershock took five more lives and injured 11 people.

The nation of 38 million people was already in the midst of a spiraling economic crisis that had plunged millions deep into poverty with over a million children at risk of severe malnutrition.

The magnitude 6 quake on Wednesday struck at night as people were sleeping and left thousands without shelter. It brought into sharp focus the country's compounding needs. Afghanistan remains cut off from the international monetary system, and aid groups lament having to pay local staff with bags of cash delivered by hand as nations refuse to deal directly with the Taliban.

Aid organizations like the local Red Crescent and U.N. World Food Program have stepped in to assist the most vulnerable families with food and other emergency needs like tents and sleeping mats in Paktika province, the epicenter of the earthquake, and neighboring Khost province.

State media reported that close to 3,000 homes were destroyed or badly damaged. In the district of Gayan, at least 1,000 homes were damaged by the earthquake. Another 800 homes in the Spera district of Khost province were also damaged.

Agencies

Dhaka/Nasim