BEIJING: China is in close contact with relevant parties on the heavy causalities and property losses in the intense earthquake in eastern Afghanistan and is willing to provide emergency relief assistance according to the needs of the Afghan people, a spokesperson for the China International Development Cooperation Agency (CIDCA) said.
The earthquake in Afghanistan has killed at least 1,100 people and injured 1,650, according to media reports.
Chen Song, deputy director-general of the Department of Asian Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China, met with Afghan Embassy Charge d’affaires in Beijing Sayed Mohiuddin Sadat.
China has always been concerned about the difficulties faced by the Afghan people. Since August 2021, China has provided a large amount of humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan to help the people tide over the most difficult times.
The Afghan official thanked China for its immediate, sincere sympathy over the casualties caused by the earthquake in Afghanistan, and thanked China for its long-term support to the Afghan people, Global Times reported.
The earthquake was reportedly the deadliest to strike Afghanistan in two decades.
The powerful earthquake struck a rural, mountainous region in eastern Afghanistan near the Pakistani border early Wednesday morning, media reported, with the tolls expected to rise as rescuers try to reach the site of the disaster in remote Paktika and Khost provinces.
China Earthquake Networks Center said that the 6.2-magnitude earthquake struck Afghanistan at a depth of 30 kilometers with its epicenter located southwest of the Afghanistan province of Khost near Paktika province, near the Pakistani border. Strong and long jolts were also felt in the capital Kabul 200 kilometers away.
According to the director of the police station in Giani district, Paktika, many people died while sleeping when the earthquake struck early Wednesday morning. Local officials said they were searching for survivors from collapsed houses.
