A new 5.2-magnitude earthquake hits the area affected by the earthquake in Afghanistan

Asadabad (Afghanistan).– A new 5.2 magnitude earthquake struck this Tuesday the areas of eastern Afghanistan where authorities have already registered more than 1,400 deaths and more than 3,100 injuries, after the earthquake last Sunday. According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), the new earthquake took place 34 kilometers northeast of the city of Jalalabad, capital of Nangarhar province, the second most affected by the first earthquake that mainly devastated areas of Kunar province. The earthquake had a depth of 10 kilometers.

You can also read: Hospitals overwhelmed in Afghanistan as injured continue to arrive after the earthquake

Meanwhile, in the areas most affected by the previous earthquake, some of them almost totally isolated by land, rescue operations have continued. “In places where aircraft could not land, dozens of commandos were airlifted and deployed to extract the injured from the rubble and transport them to safer locations,” said Taliban spokesman Hamdullah Fitrat. He added that a camp has been set up for coordination committees to organize aid and emergency supplies. In some areas like the Dewagal valley, which EFE accessed, many injured people remain trapped under the rubble. “People are walking through the mountain. It takes almost four hours on foot from here to reach the areas affected by the earthquake, where the victims are still trapped under the collapsed houses,” Sultan Mohammad, a local resident, told EFE. “There is no road access and people have to walk to reach the village of Shaheedan, where no aid or rescue assistance has yet arrived,” he added, detailing that some of the people are carrying shovels, picks, dry bread and water to help the most affected people. Far from the most devastated areas, the first displaced local medical teams remain. “We are a volunteer medical team from Kabul, but we can’t go any further. We have set up a mobile clinic here, so when they bring the wounded, we treat them here,” Dr. Reza Mohammad explained to EFE. In a camp in the Andar Lachal gorge, Abdul Majeed, 55, recounts that he lost four members of his family in the first earthquake: his wife, two daughters, and a son. “The night before last, the earthquake hit us. I don’t remember well what happened to me, I only regained consciousness later. My wife, my two little daughters and my son died. One of my daughters was injured and is now in the Jalalabad hospital,” Majeed told EFE, adding: “We were left with nothing.”