Areas affected in Afghanistan include Badakhshan, Takhar, Nangarhar and Kunar, while most of the damage in Pakistan is reported to be in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and Rawalpindi District in Punjab province.
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Rescuers are battling to access a few of the worst-affected areas across multiple provinces that are effectively under militant control, a huge challenge to any official aid efforts.
Death toll has reached more than 300.
“We have a very big plan underway to reach out to those who are affected”, Seyas said.
Residents of Kabul and the Indian capital Delhi were shaken by the quake, which sent frightened people rushing into the streets. Power and communications networks were disrupted.
“There is no way to communicate with the officials in Kohistan, the communication lines have been disrupted and roads blocked, so we can not say anything about the damage there”, a police official in the northwestern city of Peshawar told AFP.
In Afghanistan, a spokesman for the Public Health Ministry said around 457 people had been injured, according to numbers gathered from hospitals in the country’s different provinces, and more than 1,500 homes have been destroyed or partially destroyed.
“Nearly all damaged buildings and houses have been spotted”. “Today’s quake was the strongest one felt in the recent decades”, said Afghanistan’s chief executive Abdullah Abdullah. With large mountainous areas of Afghanistan hit and icy weather closing in, the unstable security situation has posed a major challenge to worldwide aid groups that have been repeatedly targeted by insurgents. Many fear aftershocks that could cause another disaster.
The quake was 213 km (132 miles) deep and centred 254 km (158 miles) northeast of Kabul in a remote area of Afghanistan in the Hindu Kush mountain range. He rushed out of the home with two of his youngest children, while his wife narrowly avoided being crushed by their collapsing roof. Many are believed to be trapped under collapsed houses.
Twelve of the victims were Afghan schoolgirls, killed in a stampede as they attempted to evacuate a shaking building.
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“United Nations agencies are mobilising and stand ready to support government-led relief operations in both countries, if requested”, a statement issued by Stéphane Dujarric said.
