Afghanistan seeks emergency medical supplies for earthquake survivors

About 2,000 people were injured and 10,000 houses were partially or completely destroyed in the early Wednesday earthquake

Afghanistan does not have enough medical supplies to treat the injured from an earthquake that killed 1,000 people, a senior official said on Friday, as authorities ended the search for survivors in remote southeastern mountains.

About 2,000 people were injured and 10,000 houses were partially or completely destroyed in the early Wednesday earthquake, Mohammad Nassim Haqqani, a spokesperson for the Disaster Ministry, told Reuters.

Also read:Death toll from Afghanistan’s earthquake rises to 1,150 people

“The Health Ministry does not have enough drugs, we need medical aid and other necessities because it’s a big disaster,” he said.

The 6.1 magnitude earthquake struck about 160 km southeast of Kabul near the Pakistani border, in a region of arid mountains dotted with small settlements that has was often contested over Afghanistan’s decades of war.

Also read:A second earthquake hits devastated eastern Afghanistan

Poor communications and a lack of proper roads have hampered relief efforts in a country grappling with a humanitarian crisis that deteriorated sharply after the Taliban took over last August as U.S.-led international forces withdrew.