22 dead as quakes rock Afghanistan

SHERZAD, Afghanistan, (AFP) - Two earthquakes killed up to 22 people in eastern Afghanistan, damaging villages and destroying scores of homes in a remote area near the border with Pakistan, local authorities said Friday.
The quakes hit Thursday night in Khogyani and Sherzad districts in Nangarhar province, where police searched for bodies and the injured under the rubble of flattened homes, while the grim process of burying the dead got underway. “Twenty-two people have been killed and 30 injured. More than 200 homes have been destroyed,” Khogyani district chief Haji Said Rahman told AFP. The 5.5- and 5.1-magnitude tremors, which struck two hours apart at shallow depths, had caused simple mud-brick homes to collapse with ease, said an AFP correspondent.
At one house, only a wall with a prayer mat hanging on it was left standing and several dead cows and sheep lay motionless in the rubble. “Some people came out of their houses after the first tremor,” said resident Yar Muhammad, 30, adding they went back inside to help other people get out.
“But there came another strong tremor and the houses fell down on the people,” Yar Muhammad added, as helicopters surveying the damage roared overhead. Funerals for three women and six children were held Friday afternoon.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai conveyed his condolences to local officials and tribal elders in the region, and ordered authorities to provide emergency aid as quickly as possible to the victims.