Quake-hit Afghan villagers clamour for aid cards
STORY: Soldiers stepped in as local officials who arrived to distribute the aid papers became surrounded.
Afghanistan's Taliban administration on Saturday called on global governments to roll back sanctions and lift a freeze on central bank assets following the earthquake. The hard line Islamist group is not formally recognised internationally.
The Gayan village cleric told Reuters that the suffering from the deadly tragedy will double if residents don't receive aid soon, while another villager, who gave his name as Zahid, described how the disaster unfolded.
"Everything is destroyed. Many houses have been damaged. Many women have been martyred in them. We are spending our days and nights out in the open. It was 1:20 at night; it was raining and very cold when the quake struck," Zahid said.
The 6.1-magnitude quake that struck the east of the country early on Wednesday further injured about 2,000 people, and damaged or destroyed some 10,000 homes, straining the country's fragile health system and posing a major test for the ruling Taliban.
