45 Kazakh rescuers have returned
from quake-hit Afghanistan. They assisted in the rescue efforts and elimination
of the consequences of the devastating earthquake. The plane landed at Almaty
airport, where colleagues and relatives were waiting for them. The search and
rescue operations in Afghanistan took four days. The personnel of the Kazakh
Emergencies Ministry worked around the clock in three residential areas in the
Herat province. They have dismantled the rubble of over 200 destroyed houses,
surveyed more than 700 sites and provided medical assistance to 80 local
residents. The search and rescue efforts were complicated by repeated
aftershocks.
“The rescue team organized round-the-clock
search operations upon arrival at the site. Another earthquake struck at
5 a.m. on October 11. According to local authorities, two more villages, namely
Shoyak and Siah Ab, were destroyed to the ground. Two groups of rescuers were
sent to inspect the sites where there might have been those trapped under the
rubble. However, no people were found, and medical assistance was provided to
10 residents of the Shoyak settlement. Afterward, the work in the Naib Rafi
settlement was continued,” said Ularbek
Abykeyev, the spokesperson for the Kazakh Emergencies Ministry.