Powerful earthquake kills 1,800 in Afghanistan

A powerful earthquake devastated villages in the Hindu Kush mountains of northern Afghanistan, where Afghan officials today estimated that 1,800 people had died and thousands more were injured in a region already afflicted by drought, war and food shortages.

The military commander from the Baglan region where the 5.9-magnitude quake struck yesterday said 20,000 mud-brick houses had collapsed, saying that as many as 600-1,000 people remained trapped inside.

The death toll could rise to 2,000, General Haider Khan said.

Aid agencies said that up to 10,000 people were left homeless, as aftershocks continued to jolt the mountainous area, raising the risk of landslides.

The town of Nahrin was reportedly destroyed, along with five other villages.

The Afghan Defence Ministry said 600 bodies were recovered from villages still shaking from frequent aftershocks.

Kabul TV said 12,000 yards of white cloth was sent to wrap the dead from the second fatal earthquake in the area this month.

Many people in the rural region already hit hard by drought and food shortages were at home when the quake struck 90 miles north of Kabul. The US Geological Survey said the quake was shallow, meaning it had the power to cause more damage.

‘‘People were caught in their homes,’’ said Nigel Fisher, a senior UN official in Afghanistan. Many people from the area had fled drought and conflict into Pakistan and many had not yet returned to their homes, he said. ‘‘In a sense it’s lucky there were not more people there.’’

With the scope of the disaster only just becoming apparent a day after the quake, the Baglan provincial military commander, General Khan, said he was shaken by the human tragedy as he toured the area.

In one village, he came across workers pulling 10 members of one family from the rubble. One member of the family survived: an 11-year-old boy, who was now being cared for by relatives.

‘‘It was very, very difficult for me to look at this: One child is the survivor and 10 people in his family died. It is a very emotional story.’’

Many roads were left impassable, and six helicopters were flown to the region to remove the dead and transport immunisation experts, medical kits and officials to assess the damage.

The US army, the international peacekeeping force and aid agencies were all mobilising aid and experts to help bring relief.

The independent aid agency Acted and Doctors Without Borders reached the quake region today, and Acted has distributed 500 tents and 1,000 blankets, said UN spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrs in Geneva.

Officials in Kabul said Acted had another 500 tents and 1,000 blankets and that the World Food Programme was sending 158 tons of food. The United Nations and the European Commission were also rushing emergency aid to the scene.

The quake, the second to hit the Hindu Kush mountains in three weeks, created huge challenges for the three-month-old interim government, which has been struggling to establish its authority in the fractious nation and encourage the return of refugees to rebuild the country following the defeat of the Taliban.

Yusuf Nuristani, a spokesman for the interim Afghan administration, said the death toll had reached 1,800 with 2,000 injured. Kabul television later reported 5,000 hurt.

Interim Afghan leader Hamid Karzai planned to visit the devastated region as early as tomorrow, cancelling a trip to Turkey to manage the disaster, Nuristani said.

Interior Minister Yunus Qanooni, Health Minister Dr Suhaila Sidiq and General Mostapha of the Defence Ministry were already on the scene today.

The government allocated the equivalent of €683,000 for immediate emergency assistance, and pledged €160 to the families of those killed and €95 to those injured, Nuristani said in Kabul.

‘‘We do have many problems to solve,’’ Nuristani said. ‘‘The administration is doing the best it can.’’

He put the magnitude of quake at 6.2, although the USGS measured it at 5.9, and an aftershock overnight at 5.0.

By early afternoon, 600 bodies had been pulled from the wreckage of collapsed homes, said Defence Ministry official Mira Jan.

‘‘I can say that 90% of Nahrin has been destroyed,’’ Jan said. ‘‘We asked (peacekeepers) and all other humanitarian non-governmental organisations to help the people there because they lost everything. They need tents, medicines, everything.’’

By late afternoon, about 400 people had been wrapped in white cotton shrouds and buried in and around Nahrin - some of them in mass graves, said Nurullah, a spokesman for commander Khan, speaking from Nahrin.

‘‘The condition is very terrible,’’ Nurullah said. ‘‘The people are in a very bad condition.’’

About 200 wounded were taken to Pul-e-Kumri and Baglan by helicopter, bus and trucks, while some 70 people were treated in Nahrin. But General Khalil, a military commander from Pul-e-Kumri, said they did not have enough helicopters to transport all the wounded.

General Khalil said he had seen no houses standing in Nahrin, and that the stench of decomposing bodies was already permeating the quake area.

‘‘Everyone is trying to find the members of their families to bring them out of the destroyed walls or collapsed areas,’’ Khalil said.

The US army at Bagram air base sent a small team to the affected area to determine whether American troops could play a role in rescue and recovery efforts, said spokesman Major Bryan Hilferty.

The US administration, meanwhile, also pledged assistance.

‘‘We will provide assistance to the interim authority and to local Afghans in dealing with this tragedy,’’ US special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad said.

In a statement, the European Commission also said an additional 1,500 tents and 1,500 shelter kits, stocked north of Kabul, were being taken to the disaster area.

‘‘We are ready to mobilise further speedy assistance should the need arise,’’ EU spokesman Michael Curtis said in Brussels.

Earthquakes and seismic activity are common in the Hindu Kush mountains, although they are not usually felt over such a wide area. Two strong quakes in February and May of 1998 killed nearly 10,000 people.

The USGS said the 5.9 magnitude quake was centred about 105 miles north of Kabul - but just 40 miles below the surface, meaning it was more likely to cause damage.

A 7.2-magnitude quake in the Hindu Kush mountains on March 3 killed more than 100 people. That quake was the strongest in the region since 1983, but was much deeper than yesterday’s - about 150 miles below the surface.