Feature: Quake-affected Afghans seek humanitarian assistance

The quake-affected people in Afghanistan have been desperately seeking humanitarian assistance as the government is assessing the situation in hardest-hit areas to dispatch vital humanitarian aid.

"I lost everything I had in less than a minute due to the earthquake and now I am in complete despair," Abdul Jabar, 42, from northern Baghlan province, told Xinhua with tears on his face.

Sitting on the debris of his destroyed house and thinking about the hardships ahead, the despondent Jabar said, "nothing is left for me. This house and everything inside worth 6,00,000 afghanis (about 93,312 U.S. dollars) was instantly turned to rubble due to the tremor."

"I am in urgent need of assistance and desperately seeking government support to provide food and shelter," Jabar pleaded.

An unprecedented tremor measuring a magnitude of 7.5 on the Richter scale struck parts of Afghanistan on Monday inflicting loss of life and widespread property damage.

The deputy to the country's Natural Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) Mohammad Hassan Sayas told Xinhua on Tuesday that so far there have been 74 deaths and 343 injuries confirmed. Around 3,300 homes have also been destroyed, Sayas said, adding the number may soar as the assessment process in the quake-hit areas is continuing.

Nevertheless, the official predicted that the number of those killed in the quake may rise to 100 and those injured to around 500 -- significantly higher than initial estimates.

In Baghlan province alone, according to Mohammad Nasir Kohzad, the director of NDMA in provincial capital Pul-e-Khumri, two people had been killed and 31 others injured; while more than 300 houses were destroyed leaving hundreds homeless.

Rescue teams have been sent to the affected areas to help people, as well as survey the affected areas and provide humanitarian aid to the affected families, Kohzad told Xinhua.

"No one has asked what has happened to my family," a frustrated lady named Ziarat Bibi, from the eastern Nangarhar province lamented.

Expressing her grief, the ailing lady said that her house was destroyed and her grandson was injured but no one had expressed their sympathy.

"No doubt, my family needs urgent support and it is the responsibility of the government to assist the affected families at this critical stage," Bibi, 55, exclaimed.

The powerful earthquake claimed 28 lives in Nangarhar province, and injured more than 100 others, with scores of houses being destroyed, according to Qamarudin Sediqi, an official from the public health ministry.

Another lady Gul Bibi also expressed sadness that she has lost her house in the quake leaving her family homeless and said she has yet to receive any assistance to feed her offspring.

India, Iran, Russia, Turkey and the United States have so far expressed readiness to extend humanitarian assistance to the quake-affected areas in Afghanistan.

However, Sayas told Xinhua that the Afghan government would welcome any country willing to provide humanitarian aid particularly blankets, tents, clothes, food stuff and kitchen items. Enditem