KABUL, February 7: Another series of tremors jolted remote northeastern Afghanistan today, killing another 150 people just days after an earthquake touched off massive landslides that left between 2,000 and 4,000 dead, Afghan officials said.The latest series of quakes split apart roads leading into the already devastated region, possibly further hindering efforts by foreign aid agencies to bring emergency supplies, said Sayed Ali Javed, who heads a government team coordinating the relief efforts.
"At least 150 people died in the earthquakes today," Javed told AP today by satellite telephone. "And now we may only be able to reach the survivors by helicopter."
The first earthquake on Wednesday night hit the remote Rustaq district of Takhar province, nestled between the junction of the Hindukush and Pamir mountain ranges. Officials with the military alliance that controls the poor farming area, said as many as 15,000 families were left homeless. Whole hillsides collapsed onto each other, crushingthousands of homes perched on the slopes. Sher Mohammed, a spokesman for the alliance, said soldiers using shovels today to dig through the rubble, found 450 more bodies raising the death toll estimate to nearly 4,500.
"Our troops are helping the people, but it is taking a long time and there may be more bodies and injured people still trapped," he said. Many feared others would die from the bitterly cold weather unless aid agencies could reach the remote area with blankets, fuel and plastic sheeting. "The cold must be the major killer now," said Andrew Wilder, who directs the Save the Children Program in Islamabad.
UN and Red Cross officials in Pakistan said they have sufficient emergency food, medical and temporary housing supplies in the general region. But getting it to the remote area, ringed by mountains and blanketed in snow, was proving a formidable challenge.
A four-person UN team left Islamabad on Saturday morning, flying to northeastern Badakshan province, which neighbors Takhar. NeighboringPakistan and Iran, as well as India, also have offered to send aid.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
