Remote areas of Afghanistan in crisis after a series of severe earthquakes

A series of earthquakes in western Afghanistan have killed more than 2,000 people, according to government officials. We get an update from Fazel Qazizai, who has long worked with NPR in Afghanistan.

SCOTT DETROW, HOST:

A series of earthquakes in western Afghanistan has killed more than 2,000 people, according to government officials. The quake struck Saturday, when most of the world’s attention was focused on the violence in Israel and Gaza. On the line with us to tell us more is reporter Fazelminallah Qazizai, who’s long worked for NPR in Afghanistan. Fazel, thanks for joining us.

FAZELMINALLAH QAZIZAI, BYLINE: You’re welcome.

DETROW: Let’s start with the earthquakes themselves. What happened?

QAZIZAI: On Saturday afternoon in western Afghanistan, about seven earthquakes struck. The epicenter was a district called Zinda Jan in the country’s west, near the provincial capital of Herat. Herat is about 75 miles east of the border with Iran. So the earthquakes were also felt in some part of Iran’s northeast. The spokesman of the Ministry of Disaster Management and the Taliban government told me that more than 2,000 people were killed, and more than 1,300 homes were destroyed or damaged.

DETROW: I mean, these are just devastating figures. I understand you’ve spoken to some of the people on the ground. What are they telling you?

QAZIZAI: In fact, it’s very difficult to reach people in this area. I managed to get through to one man from a village in Zinda Jan called Khuja. His name is Zalmi Barakzai. He wasn’t at home when the earthquake struck but returned shortly after.

ZALMI BARAKZAI: (Non-English language spoken).

QAZIZAI: He says, “this morning I came back, and everything was gone.” He says all the women and children in our village died. They were buried in a mass grave.

DETROW: Wow.

BARAKZAI: (Non-English language spoken).

QAZIZAI: He even helped extract some of the bodies. One of them was a child. He told me, I don’t know…