Desperation grows as Afghan-Pak quake victims wait for aid

Earthquake survivors in Pakistan and Afghanistan emerged from a third night without shelter on Thursday, as village leaders warned they had nothing to protect children from the freezing conditions while rescuers struggle to reach isolated communities.

Desperate victims appealed for blankets, warm clothes and food after Monday’s 7.5 magnitude quake ripped through the region, killing nearly 390 people while levelling thousands of homes and forcing many to camp out in the open.

Rugged terrain, severed communication lines and an unstable security situation have impeded relief efforts since the disaster, and local officials said they had few supplies to hand after the region was devastated by floods just three months ago.

“We usually have our own stock but we already consumed it during the floods so we were running out of stock during this earthquake,” Muhammad Bahadur, an official in the village of Darosh in Chitral, part of the Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The northwestern region, which has been hit hardest by Monday’s earthquake, also saw thousands evacuated in July.