Al-anwar Newspaper English news in Australia
A magnitude 7.5 earthquake hit north-eastern Afghanistan on Monday, which has killed more than 200 people in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The earthquake was centred in the mountainous Hindu Kush region, near Jurm, 250 kilometres from Kabul, and struck at a depth of 213.5 kilometres, according to the US Geological Survey.
General Asim Bajwa, Pakistan’s military spokesman said nearly 1,000 were injured.
In one of the most devastate cases in the earthquake, 12 girls were killed in a stampede in order to run away from their school building in the north-eastern Afghan province of Takhar.
They fell under the feet of other students, according to the report by Abdul Razaq Zinda, provincial head of the Afghan National Disaster Management Agency.
One of the residents, whose house had collapsed told reporters, “I was thrown from one side of the road to the other by the strength of the earthquake. I’ve never experienced anything like it”.
“There is a great deal of destruction here, and my house has collapsed, but thankfully my children and I escaped,” he said.
International aid agencies in Afghanistan reported that a lot of the phone lines are still down.
As the area hit by the earthquake was mainly remote area and lack of communications, it may hamper rescue efforts.
Provincial governor of Badakhshan, Shah Waliullah Adib said approximately 400 houses were destroyed.
“Right now we are collecting information,” he said.
Prime minister of India, Narendra Modi said Delhi was ready to provide assistance to Kabul and Islamabad as well as the US was ready to provide support to Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The death toll could increase as communications were cut off in Hindu Kush mountain range where the quake was centred.
