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Jun 23, 2022 - World

Afghans dig by hand in search for survivors after deadly quake

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A group of people searching through rubble in the dark.

Search and rescue operations continue in Paktika province after a deadly earthquake hit eastern Afghanistan. Photo: Sayed Khodaiberdi Sadat/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Rescue workers and residents in southeastern Afghanistan are combing through rubble searching for trapped survivors of Wednesday's massive earthquake that officials say left more than 1,000 people dead and 1,600 others injured.

The big picture: Reports and images are only now beginning to emerge from some of the most remote villages and towns affected. In some areas, residents have told local and international media that nearly entire villages have been destroyed.

  • Lacking proper equipment, some residents dug through the rubble by hand, per AP.

State of play: Survivors, Afghan aid groups and the Taliban have called on the international community to provide support.

  • "We are with nothing and have nothing, not even a tent to live in," one survivor told AP.
  • The devastating earthquake hit a country already reeling from economic issues, hunger and other crises.

In photos:

An older man sitting in rubble looking at the destruction of an earthquake.
An elder reacts to the earthquake's devastation in Khost province, where hundreds of homes were destroyed. Photo: Sardar Shafaq/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
A young girl walks over rubble.
A child walks amid the rubble of damaged houses in Paktika province, Afghanistan. Photo: Ahmad Sahel/AFP via Getty Images
A man seen through a destroyed door frame with images of Islamic buildings painted on the frame.
An Afghan man stands next to what was a door of a house damaged by the earthquake in Paktika province. Photo: Sahel Arman/AFP via Getty Images
A boy reads from a religious text over a dead body covered in a blanket.
An Afghan boy reads from a religious book next to the body of an earthquake victim wrapped in a blanket before the burial rituals in Paktika province. Photo: AFP via Getty Images
A man laying in a hospital bed.
The injured receive treatment at a local hospital after the earthquake shook the border province of Paktika, Afghanistan. Photo: Haroon Sabawoon/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
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