Deadly Earthquake Leaves Afghan Villages in “Total Destruction,” Says Resident Now Living in Ireland
Roscrea, Ireland – An Afghan man living in Ireland is urgently appealing for aid as the death toll from a recent earthquake in Afghanistan climbs, leaving thousands homeless and facing a brutal winter. Speaking to RTÉ News, Farid Safi described the devastation in his home region as “total destruction,” with the confirmed fatalities reaching 50 and continuing to rise.
The earthquake, which struck last week, has impacted remote areas accessible only on foot, making rescue and aid efforts incredibly challenging. Safi,Vice President of 1TV Media,felt compelled to return to the affected areas as a journalist,documenting the harrowing stories of those impacted.”Friends and family are constantly sending us videos and it’s heartbreaking to see the places where I grew up, the places where we used to play… there is a total destruction,” Safi said.
The scale of the loss is deeply personal. Sangar Hashimi, a cousin of Safi’s currently living in Kabul, shared the story of another cousin who “lost five of his family members, four sons and one daughter,” with his mother also sustaining serious injuries. hashimi recounted interviewing a man who lost 14 family members and filming the mass grave where they were buried, as well as a young girl who was the sole survivor of her family and a mother unable to recover her children’s bodies from the rubble.”So it really made me emotional and I cried a lot… when I came back to my home, my family, my sisters and brothers and parents, they were watching these reports and they were crying a lot because this was our own village,” Hashimi told RTÉ News.
In Noorgal District, Abdul Hadi Sarwari and his family are among the thousands now living in open fields after their home in Bar Noorgal village was damaged. He and 21 other family members are sheltering on his uncle’s farm, joining many others who have been left homeless.
“All the people left their houses and now they live in fields,” Sarwari said, adding that most lack even basic shelter. “Most people don’t have any tent or shelter.There are some trees left and so they sit under the trees.” Sarwari confirmed his house is beyond repair, stating, “we will demolish our house and after that we will make a new one.”
Safi expressed deep concern about the approaching winter, which he described as “very severe” in the region. “It gets very,very,very cold and the children,the elderly people are living in tents and open fields,I think is going to be a very,very challenging for them,” he warned.
He emphasized the human cost behind the statistics, stating, “Behind these statistics, there is real families, real children, real stories of survival.” Safi feels a responsibility to “become the voice of the people whose voice cannot be heard” while living in Ireland, and is appealing for support for those affected by the disaster.
