Khost quake survivors say still live in tents with many hardships

KHOST CITY (Pajhwok): Earthquake-affected families in southeastern Khost province say despite the passage of several months, houses are yet to be constructed for them as promised and they are still living in tents in the extremely cold winter.

The earthquake victims, who are residents of Afghan Dubai, Pasi Mela, Sara Kandai and some other areas of the Spera district, say they lack necessary items including food and clothes besides shelter.

They say some organizations have promised to construct houses for them, but the cold weather brought the construction works to a halt.

An earthquake victim Ali Markhan said most of the earthquake victims, including children, women and elderly people, resided in tents in the cold winter weather.

He told Pajhwok Afghan News the cold wave had killed household animals of many families. “Houses for half of the people are yet to be built. Cold has increased due to heavy snowfall, all animals have died of severe cold. We are given insufficient food which cannot meet our needs.”

Another earthquake victim, Jalalabad, a resident of Sara Kandai area, told Pajhwok that the earthquake victims were struggling with numerous problems due to lack of shelter and cold weather.

He asked aid organizations and the international community to support the earthquake survivors in different spheres.

“We have received assistance, but there are many families who are yet to be assisted. Our request is that houses should be constructed for us because the weather is very cold and it is hard to live in tents.”

He said elderly people and children had fallen ill due to the biting cold.

Government officials also confirm the problems being faced by earthquake-affected families.

Kalim Gul Abid, Khost Natural Disaster Management Department head, said they had held talks with various organizations to provide basic facilities to the affected families.

He told Pajhwok that many provinces were in the grip of a cold wave these days and they had approached several organizations to repair and build houses for the quake-hit families and fulfill their basic needs.

He revealed around 18 different organizations had promised to repair and construct 3,798 houses in Spera district .

Abid added 554 of these houses had been built and repaired, but the process came to a halt due to the cold weather. He hoped the construction works would be resumed soon.

In June, a powerful earthquake killed dozens of people and destroyed 600 houses in Spera district of Khost and Giyan and Barmal districts of Paktika province.

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