Magnitude 5.9 Earthquake hits Afghanistan and Pakistan "At least 1,000 killed and 1,500 others injured"

[vermadas]

This is devastating. Couldn't find an existing thread.

At least 1,000 killed after strong earthquake jolts Afghanistan

At least 1,000 killed after magnitude 5.9 earthquake rocked remote parts of Afghanistan and neighbouring Pakistan.

www.aljazeera.com

The death toll from a powerful earthquake in Afghanistan has climbed to 1,000, with more than 1,500 others wounded, according to the Taliban's the Culture and Information Department, as rescuers try to reach the site of the disaster in remote Paktika and Khost provinces.


The United States Geological Survey (USGS) said the magnitude of the earthquake in the early hours of Wednesday was 5.9, revising an initial estimate at 6.1. The epicentre of the tremor was about 46km (27 miles) from the city of Khost, near the Pakistani border, the USGS said.

"People are digging grave after grave," said Muhammad Amin Huzaifa, head of the Information and Culture Department in hard-hit Paktika.

"It is raining also, and all houses are destroyed. People are still trapped under the rubble," he told journalists.

Earlier, interior ministry official Salahuddin Ayubi earlier said the death toll was likely to rise "as some of the villages are in remote areas in the mountains and it will take some time to collect details".

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[julia crawford]

WHAT?? Holy shit

 

[Biosnake]

Saw this on twitter, really awful.

 

[Altazor]

Holy shit, absolutely horrible. Living in a country that regularly gets earthquakes means my own view is often skewed in regards of how lethal can earthquakes be in other countries that aren't used to them.

I can only hope the death toll doesn't get *too* high 😞

 

[Ocean Bones]

Awful year for Afghanistan. Sorry for all the people dealing with this.

 

[Serpens007]

Holy shit that's fucking awful :( Terrible terrible thing :(

 

[Nepenthe]

Christ, that death toll is shocking. Absolutely horrible.

 

[T'Chakku]

What the fuck?! I don't think I've ever seen such a high number of deaths from an earthquake. That's horrible.

 

[slider]

Awful.

Remember reading about a quake in Pakistan a few years ago and the homes weren't structurally robust enough so loads collapsed leading to a tragically high death toll.

Hoping those affected get help ASAP without any bullshit.

 

[Tom Nook]

:(

 

[Aly]

Absolutely awful. That death toll is shocking.

 

[mbpm]

The article mentions that the last earthquakes with similar effects happened in 2002 and 1998 so it seems too infrequent to prepare for but extremely bad when it happens. Terrible times

 

[rokkerkory]

:( RIP and speedy recovery to all affected

 

[IggyChooChoo]

What the fuck?! I don't think I've ever seen such a high number of deaths from an earthquake. That's horrible.

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The 2015 earthquake in Nepal was really terrible, too. Wikipedia says ~9000 dead and ~22,000 injured. When it's finally counted here, this may be comparable, sadly. I feel so bad for the Afghan people, who've been through so much.

 

[Aaronrules380]

The article mentions that the last earthquakes with similar effects happened in 2002 and 1998 so it seems too infrequent to prepare for but extremely bad when it happens. Terrible times

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yeah a country like Japan regularly gets worse earthquakes, but because of this they have way better earthquake infrastructure and so the damage is way less. but when they're rare it's harder to justify tbat level of preparation and so the damage is way worse each time it does happen

 

[Nepenthe]

Here's a fund that's been quickly set up by the organization Islamic Relief if you want to donate:

Afghanistan Emergency Appeal

Millions of people in Afghanistan are struggling to put food on the table due to droughts, ongoing political insecurity & conflict. Donate now to save lives.

www.islamic-relief.org.uk

 

[Grue]

Terrible toll and you have to worry about the Taliban allowing aid to be delivered quickly, effectively and fairly.

 

[Deleted member 8257]

Inna lillahi wa inna ilaihi raajioun.

America can help by releasing the funds it stole from Afghan people. The country is on the verge of collapse, if not already.

 

[Pomerlaw]

So much suffering...

America should release the funds.

 

[SigmasonicX]

That's horrible

 

[NeverWas]

Holy shit, those numbers are terrible. =(

 

[Senator Toadstool]

What the fuck?! I don't think I've ever seen such a high number of deaths from an earthquake. That's horrible.

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There was a quake in the 70s in China that killed a quarter of a million. Haiti was around that number (though I think most was after the quake)

Two European cities were destroyed in the early 20th century, turkey routinely gets 20k+ quakes, San Francisco killed thousands.

Earthquakes and landslides are easily the most deadly natural disaster "events" (famines are worse but take place over long periods).

They're also relatively easy to engineer for (at least deathwise) but only a few places have good and enforced codes (Japan, Taiwan, west coast US, NZ, Chile and mexico post 85) even rich places like Greece and Italy don't have the best infrastructure. And lots of on paper codes are ineffective because of corruption and lack of enforcement (turkey, China)

 

[Akai]

That's awful. :'(

 

[Senator Toadstool]

Also I wish the media would better differentiate magnitude (total energy released) vs intensity (effects felt) the latter is far not important as a shallow 6.2 near loose ground can be far more deadly than a 7.5 that's deep in solid beadrock)

Lots of these quakes in poorer countries hit people so hard because they're on loose alluvium that liquifies and basically acts like water during a quake which greatly multiplies the intensity

 

[Siresly]

Here's a fund that's been quickly set up by the organization Islamic Relief if you want to donate:

Afghanistan Emergency Appeal

Millions of people in Afghanistan are struggling to put food on the table due to droughts, ongoing political insecurity & conflict. Donate now to save lives.

www.islamic-relief.org.uk

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Thanks. Done.

 

[The Masked Mufti]

Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'oon.
America needs to release those funds. The people need any help they can get.

 

[Deleted member 16876]

Inna lillah wa inna ilayhi rajioon.

All this while Afghanistan are being oppressed by Taliban and the US (who should release the damn fund). Afghanistan desperately needed them months ago and they need them more than ever now.