What seems to be the deadliest earthquake in Afghanistan in over 2 decades killed more than 800 people and left 1,400 wounded on June 22, 2022. Most houses in Afghanistan were made from clay and straw, villages were completely wiped out. In the hardest-hit areas, survivors spent the night in the cold and battled against rain.
New York Times journalists set out to Geyan, the hardest-hit area of Afghanistan and saw the impact of the earthquake immediately. There were cars filled with food, ambulances with wounded people that couldn’t make it to hospitals, and helicopters in the sky.
However, according to New York Times, “even with the gush of support from international humanitarian organizations, local aid groups and generous locals, the remoteness of the affected areas has hindered aid efforts.” The roads in Geyan are very rocky and there are a lot of hills so the food and the rice can spill very easily off trucks.
When survivors emerged out of their houses and the rubble, they couldn’t believe what they saw. “It was like a scene from a movie — I could never imagine such a thing in the village,” Gulpar Khan, a survivor, said Thursday.
Another man named Abdul Hanan was visiting his family and decided to stay there for the night. They were awoken by the shaking, and they rushed outside. But when the shaking subsided, they went back in. He then rushed back to his house after being told to help people and couldn’t believe what he saw. Four of his relatives were sitting under a tree with their clothes soaked in blood and his house was destroyed.
“Now there is nothing — our houses are destroyed, we have nothing to eat, nothing to drink, nothing,” he said, quietly wiping away tears.
Link To Article: https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/06/23/world/afghanistan-earthquake
New York Times journalists set out to Geyan, the hardest-hit area of Afghanistan and saw the impact of the earthquake immediately. There were cars filled with food, ambulances with wounded people that couldn’t make it to hospitals, and helicopters in the sky.
However, according to New York Times, “even with the gush of support from international humanitarian organizations, local aid groups and generous locals, the remoteness of the affected areas has hindered aid efforts.” The roads in Geyan are very rocky and there are a lot of hills so the food and the rice can spill very easily off trucks.
When survivors emerged out of their houses and the rubble, they couldn’t believe what they saw. “It was like a scene from a movie — I could never imagine such a thing in the village,” Gulpar Khan, a survivor, said Thursday.
Another man named Abdul Hanan was visiting his family and decided to stay there for the night. They were awoken by the shaking, and they rushed outside. But when the shaking subsided, they went back in. He then rushed back to his house after being told to help people and couldn’t believe what he saw. Four of his relatives were sitting under a tree with their clothes soaked in blood and his house was destroyed.
“Now there is nothing — our houses are destroyed, we have nothing to eat, nothing to drink, nothing,” he said, quietly wiping away tears.
Link To Article: https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/06/23/world/afghanistan-earthquake
