My village of Muqbeb: Afghans describe the destruction after the earthquake Seismic news

Konar Model, Afghanistan – Stoori was pulled from under the rubble 6 earthquake size That was struck on the night of August 31. But the inability to save his wife is chasing him.

“I hardly had enough time to withdraw the body of my dead wife and put it on the ruins of our collapsed house before my children and I was evacuated,” says 40 -year -old.

The authorities say about 2,200 people have been killed and destroyed by more than 5,000 homes in eastern Afghanistan, most of them in Konar Province, where houses were often built of wood and clay bricks in the shocks of the earthquake.

Story, who only gave one name, is now residing with his children in a sprawling vacation camp 60 km (37 miles) from his village – in Khan Konar.

“My villages have become a cemetery. All families lost their forty homes. The earthquake killed 12 people in my community and left 22 others with bad wounds,” he says.

Idp Camp Afghanistan — Story, the 40 -year -old farmer, lost his wife in the earthquake. He had to move to a displacement camp with his children (Surin Foreuki/Al -Jazeera)

Winter is coming

In all, the United Nations says half a million people were affected by the earthquake.

In this camp, which is lined with tents provided by international NGOs, nearly 5,000 people possess, and each of them has stories of loss and pain.

Fortunately, the camp has access to water and sanitation, and there are two small clinics ready to receive the injured new arrivals, as well as an ambulance that can be sent to collect people.

Currently, workers dig a trench to install another water pipe, which will turn water into the needy areas around the camp.

Just a few hundred meters away, what was previously military warehouses for the United States turned into government offices to coordinate the emergency response.

Surin Afghanistan — Inside the displacement camp in East Afghanistan (Surin Foreuki/Al -Jazeera)

The Taliban, who returned to power after the United States -led forces withdrew in 2021 after 20 years of occupation, was immersed in the scale of the disaster.

Tens of thousands of people do not ignore any shelter at all weeks before the beginning of the winter, and mountainous terrain leads to difficulty in the efforts made by mountain terrain.

Naguib Allah Hakkani, the director of the province in Konar, told the Ministry of Information and Culture, that the authorities are working through the emergency plan in three steps: evacuating those exposed to danger, providing shelter, food, and medical care in the camps, and eventually rebuilding homes or finding permanent housing.

But the situation has become more difficult on this day. “Fortunately, we received support from the government, local companies, volunteers and international NGOs. They all came and helped food and money for the displaced,” he told Al -Jazeera.

“The smell of dead animals fills the air”

After more than 10 days of the tremor, the newcomers join the camp daily, inside the walls of the previous American base on the banks of the Kabul River.

Among them is Nurgal, a 52 -year -old farmer from the village of Shalatak, who was able to reunite them with his family members who are alive only on Wednesday morning. “From my great extended family, 52 people were killed and left about 70 people who were seriously injured,” he says. He adds that the destruction is “unimaginable.”

“The weather is cold in our area, and we do not sleep outside this time of the year. That is why many people were trapped in their homes when the earthquake hit, and killed them. Everything was destroyed in the homeland, and all our animals are buried in the debris. The smell of dead animals fills the air in my village.”

Life before the earthquake, he says, was stable. “Before the earthquake, we had all we wanted: a house, a document, our crops, and the land. Now life is in hospital and tents.”

Women face special challenges in the wake of this disaster, such as the Taliban laws Prevented them from traveling Without male guardians – this means that it is difficult for them to either obtain medical assistance or in the case of medical workers, to provide them.

The World Health Organization (the World Health Organization) asked the Taliban authorities last week to raise travel restrictions to Afghan female workers, to allow them to travel to help women in difficulties after the earthquake.

“A very big issue is now the increasing scarcity of workers in these places,” Dr. Motka Sharma, Deputy Representative of the World Health Organization Office, told Reuters news.

Moreover, since she was women It is prohibited from higher education By the Taliban, the number of qualified female medical staff is diminished.

Despite these difficulties, the Taliban leadership says it is committed to ensuring that women are properly treated, by male health workers if necessary.

“During the emergency situation, the army and volunteers evacuated and carried out everyone. On the second day, UNICEF established a medical clinic in the Nurgal area, and they had female doctors. The available doctor will treat any coming patients. The priority is to provide life.”

In a field hospital created inside the old American barracks by the displacement camp in Khas Konar, six male doctors and one doctor, 16 male nurses and 12 nurses tend to be injured. There are currently 34 patients here, 24 of whom are women and children – most of whom were transferred to Gamberi from their remote villages by the military Taliban and then transferred the last 50 km (30 miles) to the hospital by car.

The hospital director, Dr. Shahid, who gave only one name, says that doctors and male nurses are allowed to treat women and do so without any problem.

“A curse of heaven”

From his bed in the field hospital, AZIM, a farmer in the mid -1940s, recovers from Sohail Tangy village, 60 km (37 miles), from fractures to the spine and his right shoulder.

He is afraid to return to destruction at home.

“The earthquake was like a curse from the sky. I do not want to return to this hell,” he told the island. “The government must give us a land to rebuild our lives. My villages have become the center of destruction. My only request is to give us the ground elsewhere.”

AZIM is still dealing with the loss of his loved ones. “Yesterday, my son told me that three of my brothers have died. Some of my family members in Kabul and Gallad Hospitals. My wife is at Kabul Military Hospital,” he says.