Insufficient shelter, sanitation and food, will spread disease and poverty, international aid agencies
\n Kabul
\nHaunted by the fear that aftershocks could bring rocks crashing down from the mountains, the survivors of Afghan earthquakes vowed not to return to destroyed villages but camp in fields and on riverbanks instead, even without tents to keep off the rain.
\n\u201cWe have no shelter, not even a tent,\u201d said 67-year-old farmer Adam Khan, leaning on a stick outside his ruined home in the village of Masud in Afghanistan\u2019s eastern province of Kunar, devastated last week by earthquakes and subsequent aftershocks. \u201cIt rained last night, we had no place to take cover,\u201d he added. \u201cOur biggest fear is the big rocks that could come down at any moment.\u201d
\nTwo earthquakes since around midnight on August 31, killed more than 2,200 people and injured over 3,600 across the region, flattening thousands of homes, while aftershocks brought fresh landslides, leaving families trapped between unstable mountains and swollen rivers.
\nAid groups sped in food and supplies by helicopter, but survivors say help is patchy and slow.
\nAfghanistan\u2019s poverty and inadequate infrastructure maroon many villages hours from the nearest road, while most homes, build of mud and stone, crumbled instantly in the tremors.
\nFamilies cluster in makeshift camps dotting the area. In the village of Shaheedan, farmer Shams-ur-Rahman, 40, said he lost six relatives and fled with his family of nine. Now they sit in the open beside a road, flanked by their few possessions.
\n\u201cThe tents they gave us cannot even accommodate our children,\u201d he said. \u201cOn the way down from the mountain, I had no shoes for my son, so I shared mine with him in turns as we walked down.\u201d
\nFor some, the displacement looks set to be permanent. In the harsh glare of the sun Gul Ahmad, 51, stood beside his relatives, the women of his family crouched in the shade of a wall as their pop-up tents flapped in the dust nearby.
\n\u201cEven if there is no earthquake, a simple rainfall could bring rocks crashing down on us,\u201d he said. \u201cWe will not go back. The government must provide us a place.\u201d
\nWithout sufficient shelter, sanitation and food, the trauma will spread disease and poverty in one of the world\u2019s poorest and most quake-prone nations, international aid agencies say.
\nSome of the worst affected are children. Twelve-year-old Sadiq was pulled out alive after being trapped for 11 hours under rubble, in which his grandmother and a cousin were killed beside him.
\n\u201cI thought I would die,\u201d he said, sitting quietly on a rope bed as cousins and uncles milled around the family\u2019s shelter. \u201cIt felt like doomsday.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Insufficient shelter, sanitation and food, will spread disease and poverty, international aid agencies Kabul Haunted by the fear that aftershocks could bring rocks crashing down from the mountains, the survivors of Afghan earthquakes vowed not to return to destroyed villages but camp in fields and on riverbanks instead, even without tents to keep off the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":501710,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-501681","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n