Afghanistan quake: 30 Pakistani tribal people dead

Islamabad, Jun 23: At least 30 Pakistani tribal people, who were displaced during a military operation in 2014 and fled across the border, died in the powerful earthquake that hit a rural, mountainous region of eastern Afghanistan, a media report said on Thursday.

The victims belonging to the Madakhel tribe of North Waziristan district were killed in the 6.1 magnitude quake that killed over 1,000 people and left 1,500 more wounded in Afghanistan on Wednesday. The bodies of 30 people would be shifted to their native areas after the Pakistani authorities temporarily opened the Pak-Afghan border at Alwar Mandi, the Dawn newspaper reported.

Arrangements have also been made at the Ghulam Khan border for the transportation of the injured who, according to military sources in Miranshah, would be airlifted to special medical camps being set up in the area, the report said.

The report quoting officials said that besides shifting the bodies and helping with the treatment of the injured, the ration was also being provided to the quake-hit people.

Separately, the tremor also resulted in the collapse of a check-post in the Datakhel area of North Waziristan, claiming the life of one soldier and leaving at least two others injured.

A local footballer died when the roof of his house in the Pezu area of Lakki Marwat district collapsed, burying him under the debris. According to Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government spokesperson Muhammad Ali Saif, beds have been reserved at hospitals in South Waziristan and North Waziristan for the treatment of the injured.

Meanwhile, on the special directives of Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, authorities sent relief goods to the earthquake victims of Afghanistan, the report said. A consignment of eight trucks carrying tents, tarpaulin, blankets and necessary medicines was dispatched to Kabul, the Radio Pakistan reported, adding that Pakistan has assured full support to Afghanistan.

The 6.1 magnitude quake had its epicenter in Paktika province, some 50 kilometers southwest of the city of Khost, according to Pakistan's Meteorological Department. The quake only compounds the woes in Afghanistan, which is already deep in one of the world's worst humanitarian crises, with millions facing increasing hunger and poverty after the cutoff of international financing to the Taliban.

PTI