The word “seismic” has filled the media since October 7, 2023. The Israel-Hamas War, which has affected millions of Israeli and Palestinian people, represents one kind of “seismic shift” shaking the order of the world. It is all about the use of a seismological term as a metaphor. The consequences of that shift are tragic. There is another kind of seismic shift, one in the natural world, which is more literal, and equally devastating. And that eruption of Earth and disruption of human affairs can be seen in the Afghanistan earthquake
On October 7th, near the city of Herat, the first two earthquakes hit. The city was first hit with an earthquake of a magnitude of 6.3; eight minutes later it was followed by one of 5.5. Then came another with a magnitude of 6.3 on October 11th and a final 6.3 quake on the 15th. These weren’t aftershocks; they were whole-order earthquakes. The earthquake struck during what some have called “an ongoing humanitarian crisis” following the takeover by the Taliban back in 2021. The Taliban are a prickly group of zealous Islamic fundamentalist revolutionaries who ousted the Americans and who are busy remaking Afghan society along puritanical religious lines. They are suspicious, resentful, and defiant in the face of the international community. Due to the newly established theocratic government, existing international aid and rescue groups did not have proper funds before the earthquake hit. Agencies like UNICEF and the Red Cross scrambled for emergency donations. Hospitals were overcrowded by the magnitude of injuries and deaths and were soon overwhelmed. As the country enters winter, thousands of citizens are homeless living in a kind of political limbo. The aid groups can’t help them because the Taliban won’t help them. If you are not part of the Taliban inner circle, you are expendable.
Afghanistan is located between the Arabian Plate, the Indian Plate, and the Eurasian Plate. The United States Geological Survey reported that all four earthquakes were due to a shallow thrust faulting, which is when a fault plane has a very shallow dip – usually less than 45 degrees. This creates an earthquake because when two slabs of rock are pressed against each other the pressure exceeds the friction holding them in place. The fault plane solution showed that there was a rupture striking east-west with a north or south dip causing the dangerous earthquakes.
Mohammad Yawar, a writer for Reuters, wrote that The Taliban has claimed that the earthquakes were “the deadliest tremors to rock the quake-prone mountainous country in years.” Global aid groups and rescue teams have said that the country is facing another humanitarian crisis on top of Afghanistan’s collapsing economy. Recovery is looking to be more troubling as over fifteen villages have been reduced to debris. There is little to no funding to repair this damage and global awareness has faded because access to the devastated regions has been restricted..
It is a tale of wreckage. The World Health Organization (WHO) has reported 1,482 deaths and is continuing to rise to more than 2,000. In addition WHO had said that 90% of the casualties were women and children. The Taliban implemented a rule that denies basic rights of education, and work to women and girls. They are forced to stay home thus they die because their homes have collapsed on them. Janan Sayeeq, the spokesman for the Ministry of Disasters, had reported 9,240 injuries with 1,320 homes damaged or completely destroyed. A large percentage of houses were constructed out of mud and the earthquake hit those the hardest. The United Nations estimated 114,000 people are in need of relief.
Due to the country’s struggle to cope with the aftermath of war, internal purgings, and years-long droughts, assistance from international organizations has significantly decreased. The World Health Organization sent twelve ambulances to the district of Zinda Jan to transport injured people to hospitals. Five medical tents were constructed to assist patients and the Afghan Red Crescent Society was assisting people coming from at least eight other areas. The humanitarian organization was supplying tarpaulins, water, kitchen appliances, blankets, and other necessities for survival. UNICEF distributed 10,000 hygiene kits, 5,000 family kits, 1,500 winter essentials including clothes and blankets, 1,000 tarpaulins, and basic household resources that would benefit families. The World Food Program distributed ready food packers for 20,000 people which would be sufficient for a month for a family of seven.
We’ve learned in our Fieldston science survey classes that earthquakes are a natural phenomenon of the Earth and occur when the tectonic plants that form the outer layer of the planet move. The plates are rigid shells that have to move to allow the Earth to give off its internal heat. They are constantly having slow-motion crashes as they carry the continents and oceans. In the 1950s, a global seismic network was established to monitor nuclear tests which in turn led to a discovery that earthquakes occur along narrow bands that either surround the edges of the ocean basins, the Pacific, or cut down the middle of basins, the Atlantic. Afghanistan lies on numerous tectonic plates between India and Eurasia, with a fault line running directly through the site of the most recent earthquake in Herat. Due to Afghanistan’s location, it had experienced 276 earthquakes in the last year alone varying in severity. The recent major earthquakes occurred because of” thrust faulting” near the far-western end of the Hindu Kush mountain area. Afghanistan is prone to shallow earthquakes due to the frequent slipping and scraping of the region’s tectonic plates past one another as opposed to colliding directly. The recent quakes weren’t fender benders; they were more like high-speed crashes.
Due to the immense damage the earthquakes caused, communication has been blocked, and destroyed roads have made it difficult for rescue missions to be completed. People were using their bare hands to carry people out of the rubble and supporting each other through this anxiety and fear-inducing time. Around 2,100 people were displaced and have fled to Herat leaving their families and what is left of their homes behind. Hospitals are overwhelmed with patients not only due to injury but because the patients’ homes are unlivable.
The Taliban, in an act of public relations posturing, announced that they would construct new houses for the people who survived before the winter season became unbearable. However, the Taliban is not reliable and the people of Afghanistan need humanitarian aid immediately.
The International Rescue Committee is closely monitoring the aftermath of the earthquake. The IRC has mobilized nine emergency response teams, prioritizing medical care to help address the health needs. The Taliban largely controls how the aid is delivered and to whom. Organizations and agencies have experienced a decreasing amount of “humanitarian space) and the freedom to operate independently which is leading to donors questioning if their resources will reach the most vulnerable people. Donors are being aggravated by the Taliban’s interference and opposition to universal norms for women’s employment and girls’ education.
The Taliban are channeling resources to their security forces leaving almost nothing for the civilian population. In other words, in this triage, the Taliban are siphoning off funds like a well-oiled kleptocracy. Simultaneously, the Taliban is driving thousands of Afghans to migrate, dodging the border, and taking their chances in the Iranian labor market or risking further dangers as they attempt to get to Europe. In other words, the Taliban are ruthlessly trying to collapse and stress and distress all of the non-Taliban world.
