“We lost everything twice”: Afghan returnees are struggling after the earthquake Seismic news

NOORGANIIIIIs, Fun, Afghanistan Four months ago, religious deputies returned to his village in Wadir, which is high in the mountains of East Connar County in Afghanistan, after eight years of refugees in Pakistan.

Today, he lives in a tent on its agricultural land. His house was destroyed nearly three weeks ago earthquake He destroyed the lives of thousands of others in this region.

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“We are living in tents now,” said the 55 -year -old farmer, who is talking at his cousin store in the nearby village of Nurgal. “Our homes were old, and none of them left …

Nidal Al -Din picks up the dual disaster facing a large number of Afghans. It is of more than four million people who have returned from Iran and Pakistan since September 2023, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

The August 31 earthquake killed about 2,200 people and destroyed more than 5,000 homes, which increased a widespread economic crisis.

“We have lost everything we worked with in Pakistan, and now we have lost everything here,” Dean adds.

Even four months ago, he lived in Daska, a city in the Sialkot area of ​​Pakistan, for eight years after his village fled in Afghanistan when ISIS fighters (ISIS) told him to join them or leave.

“She refused to join ISIS and had to migrate to Pakistan,” he said.

He suddenly ended this year as the Pakistani government continues in the country A campaign against foreign citizens who are not documented.

He describes how the Pakistani police raided his home, took him and his family to a deportation camp. He says: “I returned from Pakistan, where we were told that our time has ended and we had to leave,” he says.

“We had to spend two nights at the Torkham Border crossing until we were registered by the Afghan authorities, before we could return to our village.”

This conflict is repeated via Konar. About 12 km from Nurgl, in the village of Parbat, Sadat Khan, 58, is sitting next to the ruins of the house he was renting until the earthquake was hit.

Khan from Pakistan returned to the failure of his health and he could no longer find work to support his wife and seven children. Now, the earthquake has taken a little.

“I was poor in Pakistan too. I was the only person who was working and my entire family relied on me,” he told the island. “We don’t know where the next meal will come from. There is no work here. I have problems with my lung. I have a problem of breathing if I do more.”

He says that his request for the local authorities to obtain a tent for his family has not yet been done.

“I went to the authorities to order a tent to install here,” he says. “We did not receive anything, so I asked someone to give me a room for a while, to my children. My uncle was merciful to me and let me stay in one room in his home. Winter is coming“

One crisis of many

The earthquake is only the crises faced by returnees from Iran and Pakistan.

“Our land is barren, and we have no current or a river near the village,” says Dean. “Our cultivation and our lives are completely dependent on rain, and we haven’t seen many of them recently. Others ask how we can live there with this severe shortage of water.”

Dr. Frida Safi, a dietitian who works in a field hospital established by Islamic Relief in the Dua Gul Valley after the earthquake, says that malnutrition has become a big problem.

“Most people affected by the earthquake that comes to us suffer from food deficiency, often due to the poor diet and the lack of appropriate nutrition that they were able to reach in their village,” she explained. “We have to deal with many children with malnutrition.”

The Governor of Konar, Moulawi, as God, told Al -Jazeera that the universe authorities have begun to build a new city that would include 382 residential pieces, according to the plan.

This initiative in Khas Konnar province is part of the national programs directed by the Ministry of Urban Development and Housing, with the goal of providing permanent housing for Afghan returnees. However, it is not clear the time that the construction of these new homes will take to or whether agricultural lands will be granted to returnees.

“It will be for those who do not have any land or home in this province,” said Qudratullah. “This project has already started, separate from the crisis response to the earthquake.”

But for those who live in or next to the ruins of their old homes, these promises feel far away. Returning to Nurgl, debt representatives are consumed by immediate fear of wireless tremors of the earthquake and uncertainty about what comes after that.

“I don’t know whether the government will transfer us in the plains or if it will help us rebuild,” he says, his voice is heavy with exhaustion. “But I am afraid that we may have to continue to live in a camp, even as the final tremors continue, and sometimes it is so strong that the tents are shaken.”