By: Sebastian Yan
On June 22nd, a magnitude 5.9 earthquake hit eastern Afghanistan. This was the deadliest Earthquake in Afghanistan in two decades, killing at least 1000 people and injuring another 1440. According to the United Nation, more than 1500 homes were destroyed after the earthquake, leaving thousands of families homeless.
With a seismic magnitude of 5.9, this was a moderate earthquake not too uncommon to Afghanistan, a country located in between the tectonic plates of India and Eurasia. Each year, there are more than 1300 quakes with similar intensity, and most of them cause no injuries. To understand what made this moderate earthquake so deadly, we interviewed Dr. Lucy Jones, a seismologist at the California Institute of Technology. “There’s no quake-proof buildings” Dr. Jones said. Most of the buildings in the area were made of mud and mortar, which cracks and dissolves easily under tension. Without the bricks supporting the ceiling, “the roof came down and that killed a lot of people,” Jones added. To make matters worse, the earthquake struck the village at 1:20 am local time, when everyone was sleeping. If people were awake, they might have more time to escape to a safer area.
The Geyan district in Eastern Afghanistan was one of the hard-hit areas of this earthquake. The brick walls collapsed into pieces, while the debris was scattered around the hillside. Locals have set up makeshift tents as a temporary home for the few who survived. Padshah Gul, a 30-year old Geyan resident, told the reporter about this terrifying experience. “It was like a bomb exploding” Mr. Gul said, vividly describing the initial shock after the earthquake struck in the middle of the night. When the earthquake was over, he quickly ran to the place where his house once stood. Much to his horror, he saw the lifeless faces of his cousin and his sister in-law, who unfortunately died in the disaster. Searching through pieces of bricks, Gul and his brother found their 12-year-old niece, screaming for help. They had to dig through the ruins for 8 hours before finally rescuing her. “We didn’t expect they would survive” Mr. Gul said. Having lost almost all of his belongings during the earthquake, Mr. Gul would still face many upcoming challenges to make a living and rebuild his home.
Fortunately, humanitarian efforts were on their way to support survivors like Mr. Gul. The United Nation, Afghan officials, and local charities were coordinating a collective effort to provide aid to regions hit by the devastating earthquake.