Kazakh Foreign Ministry expresses condolences to Afghan people

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan expressed condolences to the people of Afghanistan in regard with the loss of life due to a strong earthquake that occurred the day before in the provinces of Paktika and Khost. “Kazakhstan shares the pain of Afghanistan and wishes a speedy return to normal life,” said a statement by the country’s Foreign Ministry. By this hour, more than 1,000 people have been reported dead, another 1,500 received various injuries. Rescue operations continue in the region. Specialists and volunteers search for survivors under destroyed buildings. Local authorities turned to international organizations for help, citing a shortage of medicines and food.

“Our teams do not have special equipment to extract people from the rubble. We have to rely on the efforts of local authorities. Also, the country that can help us is Turkey. We have spoken to the Turkish embassy here about this and they are awaiting an official request. Our preliminary estimate is that at least US$15 million is likely to be needed immediately to meet multi-sectoral needs. We are concerned not only with food and with shelters, but also with the prevention of waterborne diseases,” said Ramiz Alakbarov, UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Afghanistan.