Photos: Looking for the dead and wounded as Afghanistan quakes kill 2,000

Afghan men search for victims after an earthquake in the Zenda Jan district of Herat province in western Afghanistan. [Omid Haqjoo/AP Photo]

Men are digging through rubble with their bare hands and shovels in western Afghanistan in desperate attempts to pull victims from the wreckage left by powerful earthquakes – some of the deadliest to hit the impoverished South Asian country.

Officials of the ruling Taliban on Sunday said at least 2,053 people were killed and nearly 10,000 injured while more than 1,300 houses were damaged or destroyed.

Saturday’s magnitude 6.3 earthquake hit a densely populated area near Herat, Afghanistan’s fourth largest city. It was followed by strong aftershocks.

The death toll eclipses that of an earthquake that hit eastern Afghanistan in June last year, striking a rugged, mountainous region, flattening stone and mud-brick homes and killing at least 1,000 people.

“Most people were shocked. … Some couldn’t even talk. But there were others who couldn’t stop crying and shouting,” Associated Press photographer Omid Haqjoo said.

At least a dozen teams are helping with the rescue effort, officials said, including from the military and nonprofit organisations such as the Red Crescent.

Irfanullah Sharafzai, spokesman for the Afghan Red Crescent Society, said seven teams were busy with rescue efforts while others were arriving from eight nearby provinces. The group has set up a temporary camp for the displaced, Sharafzai said.

The International Organization for Migration, a United Nations agency, deployed four ambulances with doctors and psychosocial support counsellors to the regional hospital. At least three mobile health teams were on their way to the Zenda Jan district, which is one of the worst hit areas.

Doctors Without Borders set up five medical tents at Herat Regional Hospital to accommodate up to 80 patients. Authorities have treated more than 300 patients, according to the agency.

UNICEF dispatched thousands of supplies, including winter clothes, blankets and tarpaulins as temperatures dropped. Some aid groups, like the World Food Programme, were already on the scene with essential items.

Powerful earthquakes in Afghanistan on October 7, 2023, have killed more than 2,000 people and injured nearly 10,000. [Omid Haqjoo/AP Photo]

Teams from an aid group described the destruction near Herat as much worse than initially feared with entire villages flattened. [Omid Haqjoo/AP Photo]

Save the Children said the scale of the damage was horrific. “The numbers affected by this tragedy are truly disturbing – and those numbers will rise as people are still trapped in the rubble of their homes in Herat,” it said. [Omid Haqjoo/AP Photo]

Neighbouring Pakistan said it was in contact with Afghan authorities to get an assessment of the urgent needs. [Omid Haqjoo/AP Photo]

Afghans stand in what used to be a courtyard of their destroyed homes. [Omid Haqjoo/AP Photo]

More than 1,300 homes were toppled when the magnitude 6.3 quake, followed by eight strong aftershocks, jolted hard-to-reach areas 30km (19 miles) northwest of Herat city. [Omid Haqjoo/AP Photo]

China's ambassador to Afghanistan, Zhao Xing, said his government and the country's charitable institutions were ready to provide many kinds of help. [Omid Haqjoo/AP Photo]

Afghanistan's healthcare system, reliant almost entirely on foreign aid, has faced crippling cuts in the two years since the Taliban took over and much international assistance, which had formed the backbone of the economy, was halted. [Omid Haqjoo/AP Photo]

Telephone connections remain unstable in Herat after the disaster, making it hard to get details from affected areas. [Omid Haqjoo/AP Photo]