At least 1000 killed by magnitude-6.1 earthquake in Afghanistan 6/22/22 Transcript

Jeremy: (00:00) A powerful earthquake has hit Afghanistan, killing at least 950 people. The quake measuring magnitude 6.1 struck in the east of the country, about 40 kilometers from the city of Khost, near the border with Pakistan. More than 600 people have been injured, and there are fears the death toll will keep rising. Afghan authorities say they've launched a rescue effort, and they're appealing for international help. Jeremy: (00:25) South Asia correspondent Avani Dias joins us now. Avani, what's the latest you are hearing on the extent of the damage and casualties? Avani Dias: (00:35) Jeremy, what we know is this is turning into a disastrous situation for people on the ground in Afghanistan. Now, this earthquake hit late last night and early Wednesday morning, local time. But we know that this region of Eastern Pakistan is quite a mountainous district, so the earthquake has caused landslides, which have decimated homes because people live at the bottom of those Hills. And Jeremy, the stories coming out of this region are just heartbreaking. One man in one of these villages, he said he looked across his town and he just saw rubble. He described it as a mass grave, because there are so many bodies that he could see. So this is going to be the issue in coming days. How will these regions be rescued, and we know that this death toll is just going to increase in coming days. But to just give you an extent of how big this earthquake has been, more than 119 million people in India, Pakistan, and of course, Afghanistan have felt tremors. Jeremy: (01:37) Avani, how difficult will it be to carry out a rescue operation in this region? Avani Dias: (01:44) Jeremy, that's going to be another problem, because we know that the ruling Taliban is not equipped to deal with a disaster of this scale. So officials from the Taliban have come out in the last few hours, they're calling for more aid and international support. But we know since the Taliban took over last year, that aid agencies have actually withdrawn from the country. Australia no longer has officials on the ground. And that's the same situation for several Western countries. So the issue in coming days will be just how much support will countries like Australia offer Afghanistan when the situation on the ground is clearly so devastating? Jeremy: (02:24) South Asia correspondent, Avani Dias.