'There is death in every home'

Toll nears 1,000 as rescuers reach remote villages

- BY ANDY LINES Chief Reporter

SURVIVORS of a massive earthquake in Afghanistan have told of their horror as the death toll climbs toward 1,000, with at least 2,800 injured.

Rescue teams were yesterday reaching the most remote villages in the mountainous eastern region after Sunday night's 6.0-magnitude quake sparked a series of landslides.

And the death toll, yesterday put at more than 800, is feared to rise further in the coming days.

Grieving Muhammad Aziz said 10 of his relatives, including his five children, had been killed and many people from his village in Kunar province - near the Pakistan border remained trapped under rubble.

He said: "The poor people in this area have lost everything. There is death in every home, and beneath the rubble of each roof, there are dead bodies. The mud houses have been wiped away and destruction is everywhere. People are desperately seeking help."

Another man, Sadiqullah, who lives in the Mazar valley, said he had been woken up by a "deep boom that sounded like a huge storm".

He ran to where his children were sleeping and rescued three of them.

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