#afghan earthquake

[workersolidarity]

DEATH TOLL IN AFGHAN EARTHQUAKE RISES AS BODIES ARE PULLED FROM THE RUBBLE

According to Afghan Taliban officials, more than 2'400 people have been killed in a devastating 6.3 magnitude Earthquake that hit the drought-stricken Herat region of Afghanistan on Saturday. The Herat region of Afghanistan is home to more than 1.9 million Afghans and the region is renowned for its abundant, top quality crops.

According to a statement from the United Nations Humanitarian Office, all of the homes in the Zindajan district of Herat have been leveled, burying survivors in rubble, leaving many homeless throughout the region as winter approaches, and creating major challenges for aid organizations to provide food, clothing and shelter.

Afghans are already suffering under a crushing sanctions regime imposed by the Biden Administration, complicating rescue and aid efforts for the Taliban government while the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank have suspended aid to the impoverished country which had been occupied by US and NATO forces for two decades.

"The operation is still going on, still some people are being pulled out of the rubble,” the spokesman of Heart’s governor, Nissar Ahmad Elyias told reporters.

"Many people have come from far-flung districts to get people out from the rubble,” said Khalid, 32, at Kashkak in Zindajan district 30 kilometers northwest of Herat city, capital of the same-named province.

“Everyone is busy searching for bodies everywhere, we don’t know if there are others as well under the debris.”

“Many of our family members have been martyred, including one of my sons, and my other son is also injured,” Herat resident Mir Ahmed told Reuters at a hospital that was treating many survivors.

“Most of the people are under the rubble.”

#source

WorkerSolidarityNews Telegram

[dumbheartache]

Afghanistan donates money to help Turkish and Syrian people due the earthquake tragedy.

[fenrislorsrai]

Sayed Kazim Rafiqi, 42, a Herat city resident, said he had never seen such devastation before with the majority of houses damaged and “people terrified.” Rafiqi and others headed to the hospital to donate much-needed blood. “We have to help in any way possible,” he said. The earthquakes on Oct. 7 flattened whole villages in Herat, in one of the most destructive quakes in the country’s recent history. More than 90% of the people killed a week ago were women and children, U.N. officials reported Thursday. Taliban officials said the earlier quakes killed more than 2,000 people across the province. The epicenter was in Zenda Jan district, where the majority of casualties and damage occurred. The initial quake, numerous aftershocks and a second 6.3-magnitude quake on Wednesday flattened villages, destroying hundreds of mud-brick homes that could not withstand such force. Schools, health clinics and other village facilities also collapsed. Besides rubble and funerals after that devastation, there was little left of the villages in the region’s dusty hills. Survivors are struggling to come to terms with the loss of multiple family members and in many places, living residents are outnumbered by volunteers who came to search the debris and dig mass graves.

You can donate to the United Nations Refugee Agency to help with this and all the other folks currently facing displacement worldwide.

You can also call you representative about having your government fund the UN Refugee Agency

[psychotrenny]

The thing with 9/11 is that no one cares that much about the death and destruction itself. Buildings fall down and people die all the time, including in the US. Like at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic you had entire 9/11s worth of USamericans dying on a regular basis. If all that damage was caused by an earthquake or faulty building practices or whatever, there wouldn't have been nearly as much fuss about it. It's not as if the insane response from US population was a matter of "two building fall down"

The reason why 9/11 was so upsetting to the US population was their widespread feelings of Imperialist Chauvinism and the subsequent outrage at seeing it so openly and violently defied. The US was at the height of its Imperialist power at the turn of the millennium, a hegemonic superpower that was dominant in some way over more or less the entire world. Whether they'd phrase it in such a way or not, most people in the US were very well aware of this; as far as they were concerned the US was truly the greatest country on the Earth. For some this was a point of pride, for others it was a simple fact of the world. This made them feel secure; bombings and mass killings might happen in those "shithole nations" of the earth but it couldn't happen over there. The US military could wipe entire cities off the map and like maybe that was good, maybe that was unfortunate and maybe it meant nothing at all. Either way that was normal; the violence flowed from the Core to the Periphery.

Until one day it didn't. One day a group of people from that Periphery, from some shithole group of nations, struck back. Now the sorts of destruction they'd seen on TV were happening right outside their window; the US got the smallest taste of the sort of brutality they had long inflicted on the rest of the world. And they did not like that taste at all. The US people as a whole went mad with grief and rage, not at the death of any people but the death of their sense of unquestionable safety and superiority. And the only hope of getting that feeling back was to inflict a revenge so terrible that no one would dare resist or retaliate again.

If bloodshed was how they'd built their empire, only more bloodshed could keep it safe. And this time they didn't even have to feel bad about it. It's not as if the US empire had ever given the world any peace, but now they had the perfect pretense to escalate it to levels not seen in decades. If they talked about this isolated and comparatively limited attack as though it was some great invasion, the US government and its supporters could take all the moral high ground of "self defence" even as they slaughtered impoverished peoples on the other side of the world. So it made sense to treat the 11 September attacks as though they were the greatest tragedy of all time. 9/11 didn't break the US psyche, it just made them express it in a more shameless way. It's not as though genocidal Imperialist violence was anything new to the USA. Afghans were just the new Apaches; the "Middle East" a new "Wild West"

[no-bitch-i-cant]

While standing for Palestine, let us not forget Afghanistan!

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A post shared by Unfiltered: Afghan, not Dewana (@unfilteredafghanpodcast)

Pages to donate to as mentioned in the caption:

https://instagram.com/khyberkhaan?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA=

=https://instagram.com/read2leadafg?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA=

=https://instagram.com/bayatfoundation?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA=

=https://instagram.com/thezahratrustusa?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA=

=https://instagram.com/aseelapp?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA=

[at-the-end-of-days]

More earthquakes in diverse places.

Afghanistan has suffered significant damage from a series of recent earthquakes amid an ongoing dire economic and hunger crises, killing and displacing tens of thousands combined.

The country has long been one of Asia’s poorest and has been ravaged by conflict for decades. But its ability to respond to natural disasters has been further hampered since the Taliban seized power in 2021 following the chaotic US withdrawal, an event that saw many international aid groups pull out.

It also led to Washington and its allies freezing about $7 billion of the country’s foreign reserves and cutting off international funding. The situation has crippled an economy already heavily dependent on aid.

[randomnoteforfuturereference]

Nothing like the Pakistani gov expelling Afghan refugees en masse back to a despotic country in the wake of a devastating earthquake and on the eve of an upcoming winter. All because of attacks on Pakistan from groups linked to said despotic regime that had been at the very least tacitly supported by the Pakistani gov.

Oh.. and a potential update to this (which has been coming as there are tensions between Iran and Afghanistan):

If you're wondering how to help Afghans, and discouraged by the fact that it'd be near impossible to convince these countries otherwise, International Rescue Foundation is probably the most practical source.

Otherwise, if you're American and in a blue/swing district, pressure your rep to push for the Afghan Adjustment Act and similar measures to help refugees get here and be supported. And even if you're in an area where appeals will fall on deaf ears due to racism/nativism/Islamophobia, there are refugee orgs nearby you can get involved with.

If you're not American, there are probably equivalent things that could be done.

[narrie]

as a lot of attention and media coverage is focusing on the critical situation in palestine atm, i wanna make this post to bring some awareness to the devastating earthquakes that have hit western afghanistan (herat) recently. this past weekend (october 7, 2023) over 2000 ppl died due to the 6.3-magnitude and another earthquake with the same magnitude hit the area again today (october 11, 2023).

the ppl are in dire need of financial aid since a lot of those had been cut in recent years due to the taliban taking over again. the wfp regional director for asia and the pacific said this drastic drop in funding (wfp had 80% less money for afghanistan than last year!!!) is going to lead to a famine and the situation is looking hopeless; especially children and women are suffering these consequences.

here are some organizations that are working on the ground rn and are reliable! please share and consider donating, even if it's just the money u would've spent on takeout or an iced coffee today.

islamic relief and doctors without borders are 2 very well established nonprofits that always help out financially and medically in emergency situations in developing countries

visions for children - german nonprofit founded by two afghan sisters which sets up educational programs and emergency funds!

asiyah international - another german nonprofit that's running national and international aid projects!

srowzar children - australian nonprofit that's on the ground in afghanistan and always posting updates on how ur donations are making a difference!

[avizou]

Pakistan is in the process of deporting 1.7 million Afghan refugees.

At least 60% of them are children born and raised in Pakistan, as Afghans have been seeking refuge within their southern neighbour's borders since the 1970s. Harrassment by Pakistani law enforcement has increased to unprecedented levels as they have started raiding refugee camps. People are held at newly constructed detention centers without transparency or access to legal representation.

Afghans are now being forced to return to a country ruled by a group that doesn't grant women equal rights and is aiming to establish a gender-apartheid state. Ethnic and religious minorities continue to suffer state-sanctioned violence. Among these refugees, journalists, former government employees and ISAF collaborators will all have to fear for their lives upon return.

Additionally, Afghanistan is facing a humanitarian crisis. Higher grain prices, an on-going draught and continued international sanctions are currently putting 20 million people at risk of a famine. Just recently, several magnitude 6 earthquakes killed over 3,000 and injured over 10,000 in the Western province Herat.

[infantisimo]

may the long-suffering afghan people see better days 🤲🏽

[swiftsnowmane]

The Iranian government is using intensified and brutal new tactics to persecute the Baha’i religious minority in Iran, according to a new statement of the Baha’i International Community (BIC) released today, with a view to “robbing” the Baha’is of a “sense of peace and security in their daily lives.”

A troubling range of “new and harsh methods” by the authorities have included violent home raids, an increase in the number of Baha’is both in prison and awaiting their summons to jail, punishing property confiscations, denial of burial rights, denial of higher education, and surging official hate speech against the community.

The new, intensified and increasingly violent incidents of persecution have disproportionately affected women and the elderly, and have resulted in hospitalizations and traumatic separations of mothers from their children.

“The growing volume of attacks on Iran’s Baha’is, which we have observed for over a year, is exceeded only by the brutality of the new tactics that the Iranian government is bringing to bear against the innocent Baha’i community,” said Simin Fahandej, BIC Representative to the United Nations in Geneva. “These tactics speak to a strategy to terrorize the most vulnerable members of the Baha’i community—people who have already faced extreme pressures for their faith—to demoralize not only the Baha’is but all of Iranian society. The new statement details how the government is trying to achieve this; through increasing violence, state-sanctioned theft, and intensified efforts to deny them the right to study, learn, live or even die with dignity. The international community must insist that the Iranian government immediately desist in its policies against the Baha’is.”

Two-thirds of Baha’is detained during the recent raids have been women, many in their twenties and thirties, the statement said, with some being separated from young children by their arrest.

The BIC added that the “crimes” for which these individuals were arrested include providing social services to disadvantaged groups, including Iranian and Afghan children and the victims of a recent earthquake, which “the rest of the world would consider as providing community service.”

Since the beginning of October, 40 Baha’is have been arrested and the homes of close to 100 families have been invaded and searched in cities across the country.

About 70 Baha’is are in detention, or are serving prison terms, and are often subjected to psychological and physical abuse during interrogations. And 1,200 others are either caught in ongoing trials relating to incidents of persecution or have been convicted and await a summons to prison.

Sentencing by the courts has also become increasingly harsh—with tens of Baha’is sentenced to a combined total of hundreds of years in prison in recent weeks. The harsh treatment of Baha’is in prison is even extended to the denial of leave to attend the funerals of their own parents. Baha’is that are granted bail are obliged to post exorbitant sums or surrender property deeds as collateral. A recent example saw a young woman in Shiraz, only in her early twenties, being required to post bail of about US $200,000, a vast sum for any ordinary Iranian.

Violent home raids and searches have been a disturbing feature of the new crackdown, the BIC said. In dozens of cases, masked agents had forced their way into Baha’i homes at gunpoint, searching the premises, confiscating electronic devices, any available cash, jewelry and items of value, as well as work equipment valued at hundreds or thousands of US dollars, and then detaining or arresting the individuals for questioning.

“When security agents invaded the home of a family, the young son objected,” the BIC said in its statement, when listing examples of the raids. “The agents then severely beat the boy in front of his parents and his grandmother, who were powerless to intervene.” In another case, involving the mother of a young family arriving at her residence, the woman was “forcibly thrown inside” her own home by four men who had been waiting for her and who then conducted a search. A separate reported incident also saw a Baha’i man suffer a heart attack after security agents broke into his home and arrested his daughter.

The statement added that, on some occasions, agents broke the windows of homes and broke down doors to gain access. Security cameras had also been trained on the homes of several Baha’is to monitor their activities and visitors.

A series of raids on the homes of elderly and ailing women left several of them traumatized and hospitalized. One of these women suffered a heart attack during the raid and another suffers from Alzheimer’s disease.

“How can the Iranian government possibly justify terrorizing some of the most vulnerable members of the Baha’i community such as the elderly, the sick, mothers, young men and women who have already been socially and culturally isolated from society in every way possible through denial of higher education and employment?” added Ms. Fahandej. “What logic is there in taking young mothers away from their children, in some cases for between five and 10 years, when these women have done nothing other than serve the poor and deprived communities? If this is not religiously-motivated persecution, with the single aim of eliminating the Baha’i community and cutting Baha’is off from their faith, then what is?”

University-age Baha’is have, according to the statement, also faced fresh barriers to higher education. Baha’is have been barred from university since the 1979 Islamic Revolution: but now students have been asked to “sign declarations denying the authority of their religious institutions” and thus to recant Baha’i beliefs to be able to attend university.

Increasing numbers of anti-Baha’i statements and claims of immorality had also been made by media outlets linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, as well as the Supreme Leader, the statement said.

And at Baha’i cemeteries in some cities, Iranian officials are attempting to take over the cemeteries and have prevented families from burying loved ones according to Baha’i funeral rites. The BIC statement added that, at the Baha’i cemetery in Tehran, Ministry of Intelligence agents had barred Baha’is from using their own plots and had buried deceased Baha’is in a mass grave of thousands of political prisoners and prisoners of conscience.

Burying Baha’is there is an attempt to “eliminate the memory of the mass grave,” the statement said, which was “against the expressed wishes of the Baha’i community” out of respect for relatives of those buried at the site.

In the past week, one Baha’i family has even chosen to donate the body of a deceased loved one to scientific research rather than accept the denial of burial rights by the Iranian authorities. The move was a final act on behalf of a woman—the deceased—whose husband was executed in the 1980s for his Baha’i beliefs and whose two sons have spent time in prison.

Baha’is are also now unable to register their marriages, the statement said, because of the introduction of an online registration system. The effect has been to render Baha’i marriages void under the law and this, in turn, has serious implications for any subsequent registrations of births and other social rights.

The BIC’s statement was released after letters by two Baha’i women currently in Evin Prison, Mahvash Sabet and Fariba Kamalabadi, were published online. Both women appealed to their compatriots to call on the Iranian government to end its persecution of the Baha’is. “Our story is one,” Ms. Kamalabadi said, with Ms. Sabet saying “My story is yours,” both echoing the BIC’s #OurStoryIsOne campaign. The campaign, launched in June, commemorates the 1983 execution of 10 Baha’i women who gave their lives for equality and justice, principles that are today the desire of many other Iranians.

[septembriseur]

Update:

An Afghan girl I care very much about in the US told me that over the last two weeks, with the earthquakes in Afghanistan and then the monumental wave of Muslim dehumanization that has rolled out of Israel, she’s started to wonder if this is literally the end times, the religiously predicted end of the world. Which would at least mean that something’s going to change— almost a positive idea— except she desperately wants to see her parents one more time before the end, and there is little to no chance of that ever happening because they are refugees in Iran and she is a refugee in the US.

[tieflingkisser]

Afghanistan earthquake aftermath: UNICEF says 96,000 children at risk

96,000 Afghan children are in desperate need of support after last year's devastating earthquakes. That is according to UNICEF. Which says the atmosphere in villages is "thick with suffering" as a bitter winter grips the country. At least 1,000 people were killed, most of them women and children, in the quake in October. Al Jazeera’s Charles Stratford reports.

[no-bitch-i-cant]

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[anytimebitchess]

Hi!

If anyone of you has the ability to donate, even a small sum, or even reblog to help the victims of the recent earthquake in Afghanistan, there is this AMAZING organization; LEARN afghan who has done amazing and great things in Afghanistan since the Taliban overtake in 2021.

Here is the link to their GoFundMe: https://gofund.me/8d7b8ddc

I can assure you that your donation will not go to some corrupt authorities etc. I’ve observed their work for a while now and have even met one of the key figures from this organization, so rest assured that your donation will go towards the people of Afghanistan who are in need!

Never a pressure! If you can’t donate, even a reblog helps! 😇

💗🤲🏼✨🫂