It was 1.30am on Wednesday when Mohammad Noor was woken by the earth shaking around him, possessions smashing to the floor.
A 6.1-magnitude earthquake that would kill more than 1,000 people in the eastern Afghan provinces of Khost and Paktika had struck.
“I grabbed my two children and screamed at my wife to run. Luckily, we were able to leave the house before it partially collapsed,” he said.
Other members of his family were not so lucky; an uncle and three cousins died when the roof of their house collapsed as they slept, and two cousins remain missing.
“I hope they are alive somewhere,” Mr Noor told The National.
But as the hours pass, the hope of finding them alive seems to be ebbing away.
Clinging to hope, Mr Noor and other Afghans continue to clear the rubble and search for survivors. Aid from the Taliban who took over the country in August last year, or the international community is slow to arrive.
The remoteness of the provinces, lack of infrastructure and difficult weather aren’t helping matters.
“Since yesterday, we have rescued three families, including children and women. We have also found at least 15 bodies so far,” Mr Noor said.
“It is chaotic and there isn’t enough help or support,”
Most of the homes that collapsed, Mr Noor said, were made of mud and other lower-quality materials, meaning that they were more easily damage and that casualties were higher.
“We are poor people and a lot of us can’t afford to build homes from solid bricks — a lot of these houses were made of poor-quality materials,” he explained.
It means for some, they have lost their entire families and the roof over their heads. Mr Noor said one child who he pulled out from under the rubble was the only survivor from a family of eight.
“He is 4 years old and he has lost seven members of his family, including his parents and siblings. He is in shock and doesn’t know anything. A village elder has taken him to his house for now,” he said.
Volunteer rescuers are working to the limits of endurance. Dr Hasan Rahman, 29, said he had barely slept or eaten in the 48 hours since the earthquake, which was followed by a powerful aftershock on Friday.
“Everywhere I dig, I find a body. I lost count; children, men, women, young and old,” he said.
“This morning we pulled a pregnant woman from the debris. She must’ve been seven or eight months pregnant. She died but I don’t know if her baby survived. We rushed her to the clinic and I haven’t heard back yet,” he said.
Co-ordinating rescues in such remote areas is difficult, Dr Rahman said.
“We are helping in a very remote area and there is hardly any mobile signal here. Most of the time we are coordinating using the Taliban’s walkie-talkie.”
As the second day after the quake drew to a close, some medical assistance had begun to trickle in, but it is nowhere near enough for the estimated 1,000 injured.
“We are facing shortage of staff, medicines and basic first aid such as bandage, gauze, cotton and serums,” Dr Rahman said, appealing to the international community to send supplies to Afghanistan.
The UAE has sent a medical team and field hospital, plus food, medical supplies and other aid, after President Sheikh Mohamed ordered that an air bridge be established.
While many international agencies and countries, including the US, have offered support to victims of the earthquake, the flow of aid to Afghanistan has slowed since last summer, making it harder to respond to emergencies.
International sanctions following the collapse of the Afghan government and Taliban takeover last August has economically weaken the aid-dependent country and triggered a humanitarian crisis.
Mr Noor said that while he had heard of international aid arriving in Afghanistan, little had yet reached his village in Gayan district.
“So far, I have only seen the Red Crescent teams in Gayan who are helping rescue people along with a very small number of Taliban forces,” he shared.
“There are villages in more remote areas that the rescue teams haven’t even been able to go to,” he said, adding that people from those parts were appealing for help from them.
“But our resources are very limited, and there isn’t enough manpower.
“Today some help and resources have arrived from Kabul and other provinces.
“But we need a lot more helping hands. We need doctors, medical supplies, food, water and some machinery so we can dig the ground and find other bodies, and perhaps even survivors,” Mr Noor said.
MATCH INFO
Fixture: Thailand v UAE, Tuesday, 4pm (UAE)
TV: Abu Dhabi Sports
RESULTS
Bantamweight title:
Vinicius de Oliveira (BRA) bt Xavier Alaoui (MAR)
(KO round 2)
Catchweight 68kg:
Sean Soriano (USA) bt Noad Lahat (ISR)
(TKO round 1)
Middleweight:
Denis Tiuliulin (RUS) bt Juscelino Ferreira (BRA)
(TKO round 1)
Lightweight:
Anas Siraj Mounir (MAR) bt Joachim Tollefsen (DEN)
(Unanimous decision)
Catchweight 68kg:
Austin Arnett (USA) bt Daniel Vega (MEX)
(TKO round 3)
Lightweight:
Carrington Banks (USA) bt Marcio Andrade (BRA)
(Unanimous decision)
Catchweight 58kg:
Corinne Laframboise (CAN) bt Malin Hermansson (SWE)
(Submission round 2)
Bantamweight:
Jalal Al Daaja (CAN) bt Juares Dea (CMR)
(Split decision)
Middleweight:
Mohamad Osseili (LEB) bt Ivan Slynko (UKR)
(TKO round 1)
Featherweight:
Tarun Grigoryan (ARM) bt Islam Makhamadjanov (UZB)
(Unanimous decision)
Catchweight 54kg:
Mariagiovanna Vai (ITA) bt Daniella Shutov (ISR)
(Submission round 1)
Middleweight:
Joan Arastey (ESP) bt Omran Chaaban (LEB)
(Unanimous decision)
Welterweight:
Bruno Carvalho (POR) bt Souhil Tahiri (ALG)
(TKO)
Our legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
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More from Neighbourhood Watch:
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Scores
Oman 109-3 in 18.4 overs (Aqib Ilyas 45 not out, Aamir Kaleem 27) beat UAE 108-9 in 20 overs (Usman 27, Mustafa 24, Fayyaz 3-16, Bilal 3-23)
Manchester United v Liverpool
Premier League, kick off 7.30pm (UAE)
The Ashes
Results
First Test, Brisbane: Australia won by 10 wickets
Second Test, Adelaide: Australia won by 120 runs
Third Test, Perth: Australia won by an innings and 41 runs
Fourth Test: Melbourne: Drawn
Fifth Test: Australia won by an innings and 123 runs
The biog
Name: Sari Al Zubaidi
Occupation: co-founder of Cafe di Rosati
Age: 42
Marital status: single
Favourite drink: drip coffee V60
Favourite destination: Bali, Indonesia
Favourite book: 100 Years of Solitude
The bio
Favourite vegetable: Broccoli
Favourite food: Seafood
Favourite thing to cook: Duck l'orange
Favourite book: Give and Take by Adam Grant, one of his professors at University of Pennsylvania
Favourite place to travel: Home in Kuwait.
Favourite place in the UAE: Al Qudra lakes
The Greatest Royal Rumble card as it stands
50-man Royal Rumble
Universal Championship Brock Lesnar (champion) v Roman Reigns in a steel cage match
Intercontinental Championship Seth Rollins (champion) v The Miz v Finn Balor v Samoa Joe
SmackDown Tag Team Championship The Bludgeon Brothers (champions) v The Usos
Casket match The Undertaker v Chris Jericho
John Cena v Triple H
Matches to be announced
WWE World Heavyweight Championship, Raw Tag Team Championship, United States Championship and the Cruiserweight Championship are all due to be defended
Stage 5 results
1 Tadej Pogacar (SLO) UAE Team Emirates 3:48:53
2 Alexey Lutsenko (KAZ) Astana Pro Team -
3 Adam Yates (GBR) Mitchelton-Scott -
4 David Gaudu (FRA) Groupama-FDJ 0:00:04
5 Ilnur Zakarin (RUS) CCC Team 0:00:07
General Classification:
1 Adam Yates (GBR) Mitchelton-Scott 20:35:04
2 Tadej Pogacar (SlO) UAE Team Emirates 0:01:01
3 Alexey Lutsenko (KAZ) Astana Pro Team 0:01:33
4 David Gaudu (FRA) Groupama-FDJ 0:01:48
5 Rafał Majka (POL) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:02:11
Bio:
Favourite Quote: Prophet Mohammad's quotes There is reward for kindness to every living thing and A good man treats women with honour
Favourite Hobby: Serving poor people
Favourite Book: The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
Favourite food: Fish and vegetables
Favourite place to visit: London
Name: Peter Dicce
Title: Assistant dean of students and director of athletics
Favourite sport: soccer
Favourite team: Bayern Munich
Favourite player: Franz Beckenbauer
Favourite activity in Abu Dhabi: scuba diving in the Northern Emirates
Our legal consultant
Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
Mountain%20Boy
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How green is the expo nursery?
Some 400,000 shrubs and 13,000 trees in the on-site nursery
An additional 450,000 shrubs and 4,000 trees to be delivered in the months leading up to the expo
Ghaf, date palm, acacia arabica, acacia tortilis, vitex or sage, techoma and the salvadora are just some heat tolerant native plants in the nursery
Approximately 340 species of shrubs and trees selected for diverse landscape
The nursery team works exclusively with organic fertilisers and pesticides
All shrubs and trees supplied by Dubai Municipality
Most sourced from farms, nurseries across the country
Plants and trees are re-potted when they arrive at nursery to give them room to grow
Some mature trees are in open areas or planted within the expo site
Green waste is recycled as compost
Treated sewage effluent supplied by Dubai Municipality is used to meet the majority of the nursery’s irrigation needs
Construction workforce peaked at 40,000 workers
About 65,000 people have signed up to volunteer
Main themes of expo is ‘Connecting Minds, Creating the Future’ and three subthemes of opportunity, mobility and sustainability.
Expo 2020 Dubai to open in October 2020 and run for six months
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Akeed
Based: Muscat
Launch year: 2018
Number of employees: 40
Sector: Online food delivery
Funding: Raised $3.2m since inception
