Death toll climbs to over 900 following major earthquake in Afghanistan

INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Wednesday&s earthquake of magnitude 6.1 killed at least 920 people and injured 600 more in remote mountain villages in Afghanistan&s eastern
Paktika and Khost provinces.Addressing a press conference on Wednesday, Sharafuddin Muslim, the deputy state minister for disaster
management, confirmed the revised death toll and said Barmal district of Paktika was the most affected region.However, officials said the
toll is expected to grow as information trickles in from remote mountain villages.Helicopters were deployed in the rescue effort to reach
the injured and fly in medical supplies and food, said another official.Wednesday&s quake was the deadliest since 2002
It struck about 44 km from the southeastern city of Khost, near the border with Pakistan, the US Geological Survey (USGC) said.Most of the
confirmed deaths were in the eastern province of Paktika.Haibatullah Akhundzada, the supreme leader of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan
(IEA) offered his condolences in a statement.The United Nations office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) said
Afghanistan had asked humanitarian agencies to help with rescue efforts, and teams were being despatched to the quake-hit area.The post
Death toll climbs to over 900 following major earthquake in Afghanistan first appeared on Ariana News.