In the remote region of western Afghanistan, yet another potent tremble of the earth’s crust was felt. This followed days after an unfortunate earthquake calamity that claimed well over 2,000 lives. This Wednesday morning earthquake, measuring at a magnitude of 6.3, rippled the terrain just 28 kilometers outside the city of Herat, the administrative center of Herat province, as informed by the U.S. Geological Survey. A similar quake had severely jostled the area just last Saturday, its epicenter located northwest of the provincial capital.
Taliban officials had earlier released a report of 2,000 deaths in the wake of the initial quakes across the Herat province. They subsequently revised this to admit that the seismic activities had racked a tumultuous tally of deaths and injuries, stopping short of providing a detailed breakdown of casualties.
Information concerning the damage caused by this fresh quake remained hazy for the time being. However, as one surveys the landscape, scenes of decimated villages scattered across the region’s arid hillscapes tugs at the heartstrings. There’s little else to witness but the haunting remains of dwellings reduced to rubble and makeshift funerals.
In the village of Naib Rafi, previously home to around 2,500 individuals, the survivors claim that the only ones to survive were a handful of men who happened to be working outdoors when the tremors began. All through the day, it is these survivors who, using excavators, are having to dig deep trenches to accommodate mass burials.
A barren field in the district of Zinda Jan serves as the site for somber burial rituals. There, a bulldozer labors to shift mounds of earth, making room for an extended series of graves.
Mir Agha, a native of Herat who volunteered to aid the affected, voices the emotional tremor the physical calamity has caused. “The task of rescuing a family member from the ruins of their home, only to bury them a few minutes later in a nearby grave feels impossibly cruel,” he expresses, struggling to hold back his emotions.
The Taliban have acknowledged the devastation, stating approximately 2,000 homes spanning 20 villages were wiped out. The region, harboring just one government-run hospital, is poorly equipped to handle the enormity of the tragedy that has befallen it.
