International

Aftershock in Afghanistan as quake toll rises to 1,150 dead

Published

4 years ago

June 25, 2022

Afghanistan Earthquake

Tents, food and medical supplies rolled into the mountainous region of eastern Afghanistan where thousands were left homeless or injured by this week’s powerful earthquake, which state media said killed 1,150 people. A new aftershock Friday took five more lives and deepened the misery

Among the dead from Wednesday’s magnitude 6 quake are 121 children, but that figure is expected to climb, said Mohamed Ayoya, UNICEF’s representative in Afghanistan. He said close to 70 children were injured.

Overstretched aid agencies said the disaster underscored the need for the international community to rethink its financial cutoff of Afghanistan since Taliban insurgents seized the country 10 months ago. That policy, halting billions in development aid and freezing vital reserves, has helped push the economy into collapse and plunge Afghanistan deeper into humanitarian crises and near-famine.

The quake struck a remote, deeply impoverished region of small towns and villages tucked among rough mountains near the Pakistani border, collapsing stone and mud-brick homes and in some cases killing entire families. Nearly 3,000 homes were destroyed or badly damaged in Paktika and Khost provinces, state media reported.

The effort to help the victims has been slowed both by geography and by Afghanistan’s decimated infrastructure.

Rutted roads through the mountains, already slow to drive on, were made worse by quake damage and rain. The International Red Cross has five hospitals in the region, but damage to the roads made it difficult for those in the worse-hit areas to reach them, said Lucien Christen, a Red Cross spokesman in Afghanistan.

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Some of the injured had to be taken to a hospital in Ghazni, more than80 miles away that the Red Cross has kept running by paying salaries to staff over the past months, he said. Many health facilities around the country have shut down, unable to pay personnel or obtain supplies.

“It shows if you don’t have [a] functional health system, people cannot access basic services they need, especially in these sorts of times,” Christen said.

On Friday, Pakistan’s Meteorological Department reported a new, 4.2 magnitude quake. Afghanistan’s state-run Bakhtar News Agency said five people were killed and 11 injured in Gayan, a district of Paktika province that is one of the areas worst hit in Wednesday’s quake.

Bakhtar’s Taliban director Abdul Wahid Rayan said Friday the death toll from Wednesday had risen to 1,150 people, with at least 1,600 people injured. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has put the death toll at 770 people. It’s not clear how death toll counts are being reached, given the access difficulties. Either toll would make the quake Afghanistan’s deadliest in two decades.

At Urgun, the main city in Paktika province, U.N. World Health Organization medical supplies were unloaded at the main hospital. In quake-hit villages, UNICEF delivered blankets, basic supplies and tarps for the homeless to use as tents. Aid groups said they feared cholera could break out after damage to water and hygiene systems.

In main villages of Gayan District, residents crowded around trucks delivering aid, an Associated Press team saw Friday. People who had spent the past two nights sleeping outdoors in the rain erected tents in the yards of their wrecked houses. For more than 24 hours after the quake, many had been on their own, digging through the rubble by hand in search of survivors.

Still, help was slow to filter across the area. In one tiny hamlet seen by the AP, all 20 houses were flattened, and residents were still taking refuge in nearby forests.

Trucks of food and other necessities arrived from Pakistan, and planes full of humanitarian aid landed from Iran, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. But it was not clear how long it would take to reach devastated villages. Other countries sending aid have taken pains to make clear it would not go through the Taliban — reflecting the widespread reluctance to deal with Afghanistan’s new rulers.

Aid groups said that while they are rushing to help the quake victims, keeping Afghanistan just above catastrophe through humanitarian programs is not sustainable. Some urged the world to end or find ways around the financial cutoff that has wrecked the economy.

“We are basically letting 25 million Afghan people to starve, to die, not to be able to earn their own living if we keep on with this financial blockade,” said Rossella Miccio, president of the aid organization Emergency, which operates a network of health-care facilities and surgical centers across Afghanistan.

Afghanistan’s economy had been reliant on international donor support even before the Taliban takeover last August as the U.S. and its NATO allies were withdrawing their forces, ending a 20-year war.

World governments halted billions in development aid and froze billions more in Afghanistan’s currency reserves, refusing to recognize the Taliban government and demanding they allow a more inclusive rule and respect human rights. The former insurgents have resisted the pressure, imposing restrictions on the freedoms of women and girls, recalling their first time in power in the late 1990s.

The cutoff yanked the supports out from under the economy. Now nearly half the population of 38 million cannot meet their basic food needs because of poverty. Most civil servants, including doctors, nurses and teachers, have not been paid for months, and salaries remain sporadic.

Many aid groups have left the country. U.N. agencies and other remaining organizations have kept Afghanistan away from the brink of starvation with a humanitarian program that has fed millions and kept the medical system alive.

But with international donors lagging, U.N. agencies face a $3 billion funding shortfall this year.

International sanctions on Afghan banks make it difficult to send funds into the country. Some aid groups have to carry in large bags of cash to pay local staff in an expensive process that incurs fees along the way for transport and security.

The International Rescue Agency’s vice president for Asia, Adnan Junaid, said the international community must set a roadmap to resume development and release Afghanistan’s frozen reserves.

“Only a bold strategy that addresses the causes of this crisis will put an end to the spiral of misery being faced by its population,” Junaid said.

LA TIMES

Related Topics:Afghanistan Aftershock quake

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France Train Derailment Injures 44, 18-Year-Old Woman in Critical Condition

Published

4 hours ago

September 12, 2026

Trends Admin

France Train Derailment Injures 44, 18-Year-Old Woman in Critical Condition

At least 44 people were injured after a passenger train carrying 186 people derailed in northwestern France on Friday evening, with an 18-year-old woman among those injured and reported to be in critical condition.

The Rouen-Caen regional train derailed at about 7:45 p.m. local time near Cléon, in the Seine-Maritime department of Normandy, while travelling between the cities of Rouen and Caen.

The incident triggered a major emergency response, with authorities deploying about 130 firefighters, five medical teams and 80 emergency vehicles to the scene.

A mass-casualty emergency plan was activated to coordinate the rescue operation and treatment of those injured.

According to Rouen prosecutor Sébastien Gallois, 44 passengers were injured in the France train derailment, including the 18-year-old woman who was airlifted to Rouen University Hospital in critical condition.

The other 43 injured passengers were treated for less serious injuries.

The initial estimate of the number of injured passengers was lower, but the figure was revised to 44 after emergency teams completed their assessment of passengers at the scene.

Transport Minister Philippe Tabarot said the train was travelling between Rouen and Caen when the accident occurred.

A passenger identified as 24-year-old Louis described the moments before the train accident in France as frightening.

He said the train first experienced several jolts before the movement became increasingly violent.

“Suddenly there were a few jolts, and then after about three seconds it got stronger and stronger,” he told ICI Normandie radio.

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“I couldn’t stay in my seat any more. The windows partially shattered; the stones from the track came into the carriage. It was really shocking. I’m still shaking,” he said.

A police source said the train may have struck an unidentified object shortly before it derailed. However, authorities have not established whether the object was responsible for the accident.

The cause of the Cléon train derailment therefore remains under investigation.

The Rouen prosecutor said drug and alcohol tests conducted on the train driver were negative.

Police and railway investigators have begun examining the train, the railway infrastructure and the circumstances surrounding the derailment to determine what caused the accident.

The railway operator, SNCF Réseau, suspended traffic on the affected line and switched off electricity to the tracks to allow emergency workers to operate safely.

“The priority is to care for the passengers and then to restore safe operating conditions,” SNCF Réseau said.

The disruption affected rail services along the Rouen-Caen route, while other services connecting Caen with Le Havre were also affected.

Rail authorities worked to arrange alternative transport for passengers whose journeys were disrupted while emergency and investigative operations continued at the accident scene.

Passengers who were not seriously injured were moved away from the crash site as emergency teams attended to those requiring medical attention.

The prefecture urged members of the public to stay away from the affected area to allow rescue workers and investigators to carry out their duties.

The accident caused significant disruption to rail services across the region, with authorities prioritising the safety of passengers and the restoration of the affected railway line.

The investigation is expected to establish whether the train’s contact with the unidentified object, a problem with the railway infrastructure or another factor contributed to the derailment.

As of the latest reports, there were no fatalities recorded in the accident, while the 18-year-old woman remained in critical condition and the other injured passengers were receiving medical attention.

Authorities said investigations into the France train accident were continuing.

France Train Derailment Injures 44, 18-Year-Old Woman in Critical Condition

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Five Dead After Coach Carrying Dutch Tourists Overturns in Switzerland

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16 hours ago

September 11, 2026

Hamdalat Bisiriyu

Five Dead After Coach Carrying Dutch Tourists Overturns in Switzerland

A holiday trip in Switzerland has ended in tragedy after a coach carrying 45 Dutch adults overturned in the eastern part of the country, killing five people and injuring the remaining passengers.

The crash occurred on Thursday afternoon on the road linking Susch and Zernez in the Graubünden region. Police said the vehicle went off the roadway while passing through an area where construction work was taking place before overturning.

Three of those injured are in serious condition, while another 37 people sustained less severe injuries. The driver, who is also Dutch, survived the crash but was among those taken for medical treatment.

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Authorities have begun investigating the incident and are working to establish what caused the coach to leave the road.

Tour operator Oad said the company was devastated by the deaths and described the incident as a deeply shocking tragedy.

The crash took place close to Zernez, a popular gateway to Switzerland’s National Park, a large Alpine nature reserve in the Engadine valley.

Five Dead After Coach Carrying Dutch Tourists Overturns in Switzerland

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Iran’s President Seeks End to War as US Tightens Economic Pressure

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September 11, 2026

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Iran’s President Seeks End to War as US Tightens Economic Pressure

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has said he does not support prolonging the war with the United States, while urging Iran to strengthen its economic and political resilience.

Speaking to university leaders, Pezeshkian said Tehran must avoid entering negotiations from a position of weakness, particularly as the US increases pressure through its Operation Economic Outcast campaign.

He called on universities to help the government tackle the country’s economic and social challenges, warning that poorly planned policies could worsen existing problems.

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Pezeshkian also urged young Iranians, including Generation Z students, to contribute to solving social problems rather than allowing frustration to fuel protests.

The president said he was willing to work with different political groups and anyone capable of helping Iran overcome its current difficulties.

His comments come amid growing pressure on Tehran to find a way forward. The conflict began on February 28, when the US and Israel launched attacks on Iran, prompting Iranian missile and drone strikes against Israel and US positions across the region.

With Washington now intensifying economic pressure, Pezeshkian’s remarks reflect the challenge facing Tehran: resisting US demands while preventing the prolonged conflict and sanctions from further weakening the country.