Hope of finding survivors dwindles days after deadly Afghan quake

Hope faded on Sept. 3 of finding survivors in the rubble of homes devastated by the weekend's earthquake in eastern Afghanistan, as emergency services struggled to reach remote villages.

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JALALABAD - Hope faded on Sept. 3 of finding survivors in the rubble of homes devastated by the weekend's earthquake in eastern Afghanistan, as emergency services struggled to reach remote villages.

A 6-magnitude earthquake hit the mountainous region bordering Pakistan on Aug. 31, causing mud-brick homes to collapse on families as they slept.

Fearful of the near-constant aftershocks rattling the area, people huddled in the open air while rescuers struggled to unearth those trapped under the heaps of flattened buildings.

The quake killed more than 1,400 people and injured over 3,300, the Taliban authorities said, making it one of the deadliest in decades to hit the impoverished country.

Most of the casualties were in Kunar province, with a dozen dead and hundreds hurt in nearby Nangarhar and Laghman provinces.

In Kunar's Nurgal district, victims remained trapped under the rubble and were difficult to rescue, local official Ijaz Ulhaq Yaad told AFP on Sept. 3.