Rescue teams struggled Wednesday to reach survivors as night approached days after a powerful earthquake in eastern Afghanistan, as access to remote areas remained obstructed.
A shallow magnitude-6.0 earthquake hit the mountainous region bordering Pakistan late on Sunday, collapsing mud-brick homes on families as they slept.
Fearful of the near-constant aftershocks rattling the area, people huddled in the open air while others struggled to unearth those trapped under the heaps of flattened buildings.
The earthquake killed a total of 1,469 people and injured more than 3,700, according to a new toll from Taliban authorities, making it one of the deadliest in decades to hit the impoverished country.
The vast majority of the casualties — more than 1,450 — were in Kunar province, with a dozen dead and hundreds hurt in nearby Nangarhar and Laghman provinces.
Access remained difficult, as aftershocks caused rockfall, stymying access to already isolated villages and keeping families huddled outdoors for fear of the remains of damaged homes collapsing on them.
"Everyone is afraid and there are many aftershocks," Awrangzeeb Noori, 35, told AFP from the village of Dara-i-Nur in Nangarhar province. "We spend all day and night in the field without shelter."
The non-governmental group Save the Children said one of its aid teams "had to walk for 20 kilometres (12 miles) to reach villages cut off by rock falls, carrying medical equipment on their backs with the help of community members".
