“The Wrath of God”: Afghans Mourn Unimaginable Loss Following Earthquake

The deadliest earthquake to hit the country in decades has leveled entire hamlets. Many people lost most, if not all, of their immediate family.

Lamentations echoed through what remained of the village when the ambulance arrived. Inside was the body of a 12-year-old girl, Roqia. She died Tuesday morning in a nearby hospital, four days after a devastating earthquake struck this part of northwest Afghanistan and caused her mudbrick home to collapse on top of her.

< p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0" >The vehicle drove to the top of a nearby hill where mounds of earth marked about 70 freshly dug graves. A crowd of men gathered and opened the back door, gently taking out the girl, whose small body was wrapped in a thick white blanket.

Seeing her, his uncle, Shir Ahmad, stumbled backwards. “Oh my God, oh my God,” he cried, breathless. A man slipped his arms around his back to steady him as he collapsed to the ground in tears.

“I lost four members of my family " the man said. " Do not Cry. »

Four days after the deadliest earthquake to hit Afghanistan in decades, hundreds of Afghans live in one of the most affected, Zinda Jan. struggling to accept this almost unfathomable destruction.

In a few minutes, a handful of entire villages - formerly groups of mud-brick houses, with thick beige walls - were destroyed. melting in the endless desert – transformed into mounds of dust. Almost everyone in the area lost at least one loved one when their house collapsed. Many lost most, if not all, of their immediate family.

ImageA destroyed motorcycle in a house in the village of Seya Aab.

ImageShir Ahmad, right, comforted in as a resident bury his niece Roqia.

The district is little more than a stretch of desert punctuated by villages where people live day to day along from the western border of Afghanistan. Most families survive by growing wheat, corn and figs in modest gardens and raising small herds of livestock. Many men work as day laborers in neighboring Iran, earning only a few hundred dollars a month.

As of Tuesday, the death toll from the earthquakes had risen to at least 1,053 people. , according to the United Nations, while Taliban officials have said the true figure may be closer to 2,000. The vast majority of the dead belonged to just 11 villages, some of which lost a quarter or more of their population in the quake . Early Wednesday, another magnitude 6.3 earthquake struck near the city of Herat, sending people fleeing their homes for the second time in five days.

In hamlets hit by previous earthquakes, the grief and loss are palpable. The air is tinged with the smell of rotting flesh – whether it comes from the victims whose bodies have not yet been found or from the livestock crushed under the rubble, no one is really sure. Rows and rows of mounds of earth marking mass graves now mark the boundaries of decimated villages. Sporadic screams and sobs pierce the calm as waves of anguish overwhelm the few survivors.

In the village of Seya Aab, moments after the men As Roqia's body was lowered into a grave Tuesday afternoon, a young man whose mother had also been killed collapsed in tears at her grave. “Oh my God, oh my God, please help me,” he cried.