Agencies fought yesterday to get first aid to survivors of the earthquake in northern Afghanistan, as the death toll rose to 4,000. Aid workers spoke of whole hillsides collapsing on to villages and burying their entire populations under mudslides. They said survivors had started fleeing the stricken area to search for water, shelter and food.
Witnesses said Saturday's powerful earthquake gave the simple mud homes little chance of survival, especially as many had already been damaged in a huge earthquake on February 4th.
As helicopters arrived on the scene to survey the most inaccessible areas, aid workers said the priority was rescuing and treating the thousands of injured.
"For the next two to three days we will focus on the medical issues, and it is crucial that the injured up in the disaster area are treated as soon as possible," said Mr Svante Yngrot of the International Committee of the Red Cross.
The French aid agency ACTED said information from local officials put the death toll at around 4,000 and rising. An ACTED official added that 45,000 people had been made homeless by the earthquake measuring around 7.0 on the Richter Scale.
ACTED said there was little information on the worst-hit area of Shahr-e-Bozurg, a mountainous region populated by Tajiks, with no roads and cut off from the outside world. As the helicopter rescue effort got into full swing, aid workers said clinics were being prepared in the three main quakehit districts, which are still suffering regular aftershocks.
Hospitals in Faizabad, the capital of Badakhshan province, and in Taloqan, capital of Takhar, were also standing by to receive thousands feared injured.
Medecins Sans Frontieres has set up two clinics in the region, but a spokesman said more medical supplies were needed.
"It is very important to bring in medicines, medical teams and other resources quickly," he said, adding increasing numbers of people were beginning to arrive at the clinics on donkeys or by foot with serious injuries.
The February 4th earthquake measuring 6.4 on the Richter Scale in the region killed around 4,000 people.