A village in southeastern Afghanistan devastated by an earthquake – whose epicenter was just a few kilometers away – try to come back to life after the long-awaited arrival of humanitarian aid.
From the city of Urgun, Wuchkai is reached in three hours, down a narrow dirt track and full of potholes where, sometimes, two vehicles cannot pass each other.
This single road, dusty after two consecutive days of hot sun, it is practically impassable in times of heavy rainlike the night of the earthquake and the next.
Isolated, devoid of electricity and water, the village extends over a wide area surrounded by mountains, and it is crossed by an almost dry river.
Destruction
Several dozen houses were totally destroyed by Wednesday’s strong earthquake, whose epicenter was recorded less than 10 km away.
The town buried dozens of dead. In total, more than 1,000 inhabitants of the region died.more than 3,000 were injured and thousands more left homeless.
Earthquake survivors, Paktika province, Afghanistan. Xinhua photo
Like Raqim Khan, 23, who lost 11 members of his family. They all lived together in a one-story house, which is now in ruins.
She currently lives with four other families, including 15 women and about 20 children, in three large tents located near their destroyed houses.
“I ask and expect the world and the government to provide us with the essentials to live,” explains the young man without hiding his anger.
“The stores, the food and the flour that we received for a few days are not enough“, he assures.
In the middle of the three tents, a small fire burns to cook food, while piles of blankets are placed on a wall.
Children playing, crying babies, a cow tied to a post, chickens walking. Hygiene conditions could deteriorate rapidly.
The men go through the destroyed houses, seeking to recover what can be used.
Destruction by the earthquake in Afghanistan. AP Photo
Aid
The brick walls and dry land still standing are cracked, threatening to collapse at any moment, especially as seismic shocks continue to be felt.
The last one, Friday morning, claimed the lives of five people in Gayan district, where Wuchkai is located.
In the center of the village, vehicles from UN agencies (PAM, UNHCR, UNICEF), international NGOs (MSF, Red Crescent) and locals drive through the dusty streets.
They bring food, basic necessities, medicine and tents.
EFE
Seven trucks from the World Food Program arrived in the morning from Kabul. Others are on the way. Doctors Without Borders also sent two trucks.
The distributions began, sometimes in a somewhat anarchic way. As in the back of a truck, filled with large bags of beans and chartered by a local businessman, where dozens of men try to get one.
The crowd provokes the arrest of a young man, who is abruptly loaded into the vehicle of an armed Taliban patrol.
In a large vacant lot, army helicopters they keep landing regularly.
From the first hours after the earthquake, they made it possible to transport the wounded to hospitals in the region, as well as shipments of food and basic necessities.
Not far away, Kawsar Uddin, 20, and his uncle each run one of the collective tents distributed by a local NGO.
It will be the only refuge for their families, for an undetermined time. As for many other survivors.
His house is completely destroyed.
The young man could not save his father. With his three younger brothers, his uncle and the children of the latter, they were able to get out safe and sound.
With the influx of aid arriving, still suspicious of the motivations of some of those who come to lend a hand.
“They distributed food and tents, but some do business with the blood of the Afghans,” he accuses.
Fuente: AFP
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