The earthquake in Afghanistan

 

The earthquake in Afghanistan 

Over 2,400 have died after the earthquake in Afghanistan - six villages are said to have been destroyed  

 

The death toll from Saturday's earthquake in Afghanistan has risen to 2,445, according to a spokesman for the country's Taliban government, according to Reuters. About six villages have been destroyed and hundreds of civilians have been buried under riots.  

 

The earthquake, with a magnitude of 6.3, occurred in Herat province in western Afghanistan and was followed by at least four strong aftershocks.  

 

Abdul Wahid Rayan, spokesman for Afghanistan's Ministry of Information and Culture, is appealing for immediate help. 

 

 

Herat Province map

 

Racial masses in the Zenda Jan district. Omid Haqjoo / AP  

 

Villagers dig up dead by hand: "Everything turned to sand - have nothing now" 

 

More than 1,300 homes have been destroyed in Saturday's earthquake in the Afghan province of Herat, where more than 2,400 people have so far been confirmed dead, the Taliban government says according to AFP.  

 

Most of the homes in the Afghan countryside are built of mud, and residents of Sarboland in Zenda Jan district testify that all the houses collapsed in the first quake.  

 

On Sunday, people in the affected areas tried to dig out the dead and injured with their bare hands, AP writes.  

 

- We came home and saw that nothing was left. Everything had turned to sand. We have nothing now, no blankets or anything. We are left out here in the night with our martyrs, says 32-year-old Nek Mohammed to the news agency.