"The Men Were Unable to Speak or Cry": Afghanistan Earthquakes

By Rainer Lang

One man stands among the ruins of what was once a home. Another sits on top of a pile of rubble. The image makes it seem as though the man in the foreground is calmly posing for the photographer. But Abdul Quyam is not posing. He is in a state of shock. Only a few hours earlier, he had lost his wife, two children and a brother to the devastating series of earthquakes that had hit the area around the town of Nahrin in northern Afghanistan.

"The men were unable to speak or cry," says Shaheen Rassoul, who took the photo. He had reached Koracha village on the evening of March 27, after traveling eight hours by car from Taloqan. "The scene was nearly one of complete destruction," recalls the Afghan shelter relief program director of United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR), a member of Action by Churches Together (ACT) International.

The village of Koracha lies just above Nahrin, the town that was the worst hit by the earthquake. According to Shaheen 300 of the 320 homes in Koracha were destroyed, 35 people were dead or missing and many more were injured. "When I first arrived I saw locals still pulling dead animals from what remained of their homes."

The villagers told Rassoul that the falling rubble crushed nearly all their animals. "The animals usually share the rooms in the house with the people in winter because of the cold and a lack of space," Shaheen explains.

Deeply moved by the images of devastation and suffering, Shaheen said that the people in the area were "incredibly resilient".... "They were just ready to continue a new day, albeit with incredible setbacks - but the only option for them was to move forward."

What concerned Shaheen most were the children whose parents had died. "I met some of them. They were marginalized during the distributions. Where the men would literally fight to receive tents, food and other supplies, these children were standing on the side and hoping that they would get something in the end."

The constant aftershocks made it difficult to clear the rubble. Some of the mud-brick houses that were only damaged by the first earthquakes eventually collapsed too. People did not stay in their homes - even if they were still standing - in fear of new aftershocks.

Many of the inhabitants of the village were still sleeping out in the open when Shaheen arrived. One of the men pointed to a tree saying that he and many others would sleep there - this in a mountainous region where it gets very cold at night.

Living conditions in the area around Nahrin are harsh. It takes seven hours to reach a paved road from this part of Afghanistan, whether you travel north or south. Farming is nearly impossible in this inaccessible mountainous region where the terrain seems to comprise only boulders, rocks, pebbles and stones. Years of civil war and a crippling drought all combine to create a picture of suffering and extreme depravation.

Shaheen says that aid to the area arrived quickly and that relief distribution is well under way. UMCOR is monitoring the situation closely. Church World Service Pakistan/Afghanistan and Norwegian Church Aid, both ACT members, have sent thousands of tents, quilts, ground sheets, jerry cans and blankets to the area where there local Afghan partners are distributing the relief items. Church World Service and UMCOR also are working together in responding to the ongoing emergency in Afghanistan.

According to the latest reports from the UN and the Afghan government, around 800 to 1,000 people died. At least 500 people were injured during the earthquake. Thousands of people were left homeless. Many roads leading to the area are still blocked by landslides. And now aid workers are afraid that rains could make the situation worse. The distribution of food and shelter is therefore a priority, according to Antonio Donini of UNOCHA.

The earthquake hit Nahrin and at least 100 villages in a 15-kilometer wide circle around the market town. Shaheen says that it is important to keep an eye on the situation -- there is a big need for earthquake-proof housing, water and sanitation facilities such as wells and improved irrigation, he says.

Please join in this response by giving to International Disaster Response, Advance #982450. Designate "Afghanistan Earthquake." Give through your local United Methodist church or mail contributions to: UMCOR, 475 Riverside Dr., Room 330, New York, NY 10115. Call 800-554-8583 to make a credit card donation. You can also donate online. Click here to make a secure online gift. One hundred percent of your gift goes to the designated response. United Methodists' generous giving to the One Great Hour of Sharing, part of their ongoing contribution to mission around the world, supplements the cost of Advance gifts.

Source: Action by Churches Together, http://www.act-intl.org.

March 29, 2002

Photos: Shaheen Rassoul, UMCOR staff, traveled to Nahrin district on March 27, approximately 8 hours from Taloqan city, arriving via back roads in the evening. The pictures on this page were taken from a village just above the old town of Nahrin before any aid had been distributed or any assessments had been conducted.
   1. Abdul Qayum, pictured in the foreground, lost his wife, one brother, and two children just hours earlier. He is standing in the remains of his house. His brother-– sticken with grief unable to speak or to cry-– sits on the pile of rubble in upper-left. 2. When asked where he would sleep, Omer, the owner of this destroyed house pointed to the area by the tree in the center of this picture. His wife and child are to the left. 3. Awulia walks away from the remains of his home. Credit: Shaheen Rassoul, Program Director, UMCOR-Tajikistan, March 2002. Click on any photo to see a larger version.