Rescue teams face challenges in quake-hit Afghan provinces
New Delhi: Communication and connectivity issues are major challenges being faced by humanitarian aid workers in the earthquake-hit provinces of Afghanistan, according to the United Nations.
Meanwhile, members of the Hindu and Sikh communities from Afghanistan have pooled in their resources to send relief material for the earthquake-affected victims in the eastern provinces of the country, added reports.
Manjit Singh Lambe, the president of the Council of Hindu and Sikh Minorities of Afghanistan, told Pajhwok news that the Sikhs of Afghanistan, in coordination with the diaspora residing abroad and the World Hindu Association, have sent humanitarian aid for the earthquake victims.
Among cities witnessing the devastation is Jalalabad, once visited by Sikh Guru Nanak Ji. The city houses Gurdwara Guru Nanak Darbar. There are no exact numbers available for Hindus and Sikhs currently living in Afghanistan.
According to the European Union Agency for Asylum, against a number of over seven lakh in the 70s, approximately 150 were left at the end of 2021.
A post on the website of the organisation of Sikhs and Hindus of Afghanistan says that in 2019, the now-dissolved Independent Election Commission of Afghanistan recorded 1,105 Sikh and Hindu voters across the country. Of them, 759 were in Kabul, 342 in Nangarhar province, and only four in Helmand.
Meanwhile, fearing that hundreds of thousands could be impacted, United Nations officials on the ground said that in the first critical 24 hours after the earthquake hit on Sunday, access was “very limited”.
Relief and rescue work were hampered owing to landslides and rockfalls triggered by the tremors. Some roads were already blocked by previous rockslides caused by recent heavy rainfall.
The region has since experienced several aftershocks. The first earthquake, measuring six on the Richter scale, struck areas close to the Pakistan border on Sunday.
Two days later, another 5.2-magnitude quake struck again.
The Taliban regime, facing sanctions and aid cuts, has appealed to the global community for assistance.
Till now, though as many as 40 countries are in conversation with Kabul, only Russia has granted recognition to the regime.
India has already dispatched humanitarian aid, including 1,000 tents and 15 tons of food supplies. New Delhi has assured Kabul of continuing its assistance in providing medicines and food supplies.