Kabul [Afghanistan], September 2: Afghan officials yesterday (September 1) announced that about 622 people were killed and more than 1,500 injured in an earthquake that occurred in the eastern part of the country late on August 31, according to Reuters.
In the Afghan capital Kabul, health officials said rescuers were racing to reach remote villages scattered across a region with a long history of earthquakes and floods. "Data from several clinics indicate more than 400 people are injured and dozens have died," Afghan health ministry spokesman Sharafat Zaman said in a statement, warning that the death toll was likely to rise.
Images from Reuters showed helicopters evacuating people, while civilians helped soldiers and medical staff load the injured into ambulances.
The Afghan Ministry of Health reported that three villages in Kunar province were flattened, and many others suffered significant damage. Najibullah Hanif, the information officer for Kunar province, said 250 people had died and 500 were injured, and that the death toll could change.
Rescuers are searching for survivors in an area bordering Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region, where mud and stone houses were flattened by the quake at a depth of 10 km, Reuters reported.
Source: Thanh Nien Newspaper
