Rescue efforts hampered in Afghan quake-hit provinces

New Delhi: Rescue and relief operations in Afghanistan’s earthquake-affected provinces are being hindered by severe communication and connectivity problems, the United Nations has said.

Reports noted that members of Afghanistan’s Hindu and Sikh communities have mobilized resources to send aid to the victims in the eastern provinces. Manjit Singh Lambe, president of the Council of Hindu and Sikh Minorities of Afghanistan, told Pajhwok News that the Sikh community, with support from the diaspora and the World Hindu Association, has dispatched humanitarian supplies.

Among the devastated areas is Jalalabad, which houses the Gurdwara Guru Nanak Darbar and was once visited by Guru Nanak. Reliable figures for the current Hindu and Sikh population in Afghanistan are unavailable. The European Union Agency for Asylum estimates that from more than 700,000 in the 1970s, their numbers had fallen to around 150 by the end of 2021. A 2019 record by the country’s then Independent Election Commission listed 1,105 Sikh and Hindu voters, with the majority in Kabul and Nangarhar.

UN officials warned that hundreds of thousands could be affected by the disaster. In the crucial first 24 hours after the initial quake on Sunday, access to affected areas was “very limited” due to landslides and rockfalls. Some routes were already blocked following earlier heavy rains. The region has since been jolted by multiple aftershocks.

The first tremor, measuring 6.0 on the Richter scale, struck near the Pakistan border on Sunday, followed two days later by another quake of magnitude 5.2.

The Taliban administration, constrained by sanctions and aid suspensions, has appealed for international support. Although about 40 countries are in talks with Kabul, Russia remains the only one to have formally recognized the regime.

India has sent humanitarian aid, including 1,000 tents and 15 tonnes of food supplies, and has pledged to continue providing assistance with food and medicines.