Hamiltonians seek help for victims of massive Afghanistan earthquake

A desperate struggle for survival is taking place Monday night in Afghanistan and Afghans here in Hamilton are appealing for help for the Afghan people who were hit by a powerful earthquake during the night.

At last word more than 800 people are believed to have died in the quake with more than 2,800 injured and there are fears the number of victims will go higher.

In eastern Afghanistan Monday, people were going through the rubble of homes that collapsed when the ground shook in the massive earthquake.

The quake measured 6.1 on the Richter-scale and hit a mountainous region around Jalalabad in eastern Afghanistan, along the Pakistan border.

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“Their uncles, their cousins and their sister-in-laws are under the rubble and the moment I talked to them they were trying to get them out from their destroyed houses,” says Omid Mashkoor, who is from Jalalabad inside the quake zone.

Mashkoor says people he spoke to in Afghanistan today were trying to reach quake victims in the ruins of remote mountain villages.

“This is a desperate situation but for the people living there it is a national disaster, and not only one or two cities or villages are destroyed but I fear for my friends and the entire villages, more than 80 per cent is now collapsed and everyone and everything is under rubble and they’re trying to get them one by one,” Mashkoor says.

The Canadian Red Cross says the Afghan Red Crescent Society has sent emergency teams to support the quake victims.

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They’re delivering relief supplies and conducting aerial and field assessments as officials try to determine the extent of damage and loss of life.

World Vision Afghanistan says it’s working with local groups to get help to the region.

“We have Afghan NGO partners in the area just now. They have incredible knowledge of the realities on the ground. They’re used to dealing with the challenges in remote parts of eastern, northeastern Afghanistan, and they’re able to get, you know, where sort of the bigger organizations aren’t able to directly, so there is potential, there is potential to deal with the short term crisis and the longer term effects,” says Mark Calder from World Vision Afghanistan.

“They need food, they need shelter, they need everything. A couple of their villages were destroyed completely. They don’t have anything in that province,” says Akbar Hadairy, head of the Afghan Association of Hamilton.

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Hadairy says people in the quake zone need help, even if countries like Canada don’t recognize the Taliban government of Afghanistan.

“People need help. I know that none of the countries recognize the Taliban government of Afghanistan but a tragedy like this happens, people get hurt bad and all over the world, we’re asking to help these people, they’re suffering,” Hadairy says.

Hadairy is asking people who want to help to contact the Afghan Association of Hamilton.

The Red Cross is also suggesting the Afghanistan Humanitarian Crisis Appeal.

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