'We need help to pull out people who are buried...800 killed in Afghanistan quake

AFGHANS hit by a devastating earthquake made a desperate plea for humanitarian help yesterday, as the death toll soared to more than 800.

- By Toby Codd

The epicentre of the magnitude six quake, which struck at around 11.45pm local time on Sunday (8.15pm BST), was 17 miles from Afghanistan's fifth largest city, Jalalabad. Buildings shook from the nation's capital Kabul to Islamabad over the border in Pakistan. Dozens of homes and people were buried under rubble in the worst-hit Kunar province where whole villages were destroyed. The country's Taliban government said 2,800 people were injured.

A resident in the northeastern Kunar province said: "Children are under the rubble. The elderly are under the rubble. Young people are under the rubble. We need help here. We need people to come here and join us.

"Let us pull out the people who are buried.