Survivors of the deadly earthquake in Afghanistan have been given new homes in Paktika after spending months in tent cities

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Afghan worker Rasool Badshah has moved into a new home six months after the deadly earthquake in eastern Afghanistan, but without his mother, who was killed by collapsing walls.

Key points: New homes have solar panels, stand-alone toilets and traditional heaters to help with harsh winters Quake survivors say Paktika has been neglected by the authorities for years, and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees will build two schools and a clinic in the area

More than 1,000 people have been killed and tens of thousands displaced after the 5.9-magnitude earthquake – the deadliest in Afghanistan in nearly a quarter of a century – hit the impoverished province of Paktika on June 22.

“When I got here, my mother and brothers were all buried,” Badshah, 21, told AFP, explaining how he rushed back to his village from Pakistan where he worked.

Hundreds of earthquake-resistant concrete homes, many built by local workers with support from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), have now been handed over to survivors who until recently lived in makeshift tent cities.

“We could not have built these houses, not even our children or grandchildren,” Badshah said.

“We couldn’t afford it. We were living in shacks.”

The homes were built to withstand future earthquakes and protect residents from harsh winters. (AFP: Agent Kohsar)

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said the new homes are equipped with solar panels, independent toilets and traditional heaters to help residents cope with the harsh winters.

Even before the earthquake, Afghanistan was in the grip of a humanitarian disaster exacerbated by the Taliban’s takeover in August 2021.

Taliban security attended the home handover ceremony. (AFP: Agent Kohsar)

The international development financing on which the South Asian country relied dried up after the takeover, and assets held abroad were frozen.

Survivor Para Khan said the remote eastern region where the quake struck has been neglected by the authorities for years.

“After the earthquake, people came and saw that the people of the area were in trouble,” Mr. Khan said.

“We don’t even have a clinic or a school. Everyone grew up illiterate.”

UNHCR will return after the winter to build more facilities for the population. (AFP: Agent Kohsar)

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, will begin work to build two schools and a clinic in the area, which is still strewn with rubble, after winter.

Afghanistan is frequently subject to earthquakes, especially in the Hindu Kush mountain range, which lies near the junction of the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates.

France Press agency

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