BBC NEWS (United Kingdom), PAJHWOK (Afghanistan)
PUL-I-KHUMRI – A dramatic landslide killed at least 80 people in the northern Afghan province of Baghlan.
The landslide was the result of two successive earthquakes that were felt as far as Kabul, 105 miles away. “A quake measuring 5.4 struck the Hindu Kush region, followed by a 5.7 aftershock that jolted central, northern and northwestern Afghanistan,” Afghan news agency Pajhwok reports. The landslide caused part of a mountain to collapse, completeley burying the remote village.
Baghlan Provincial Council Member Haji Wakil told BBC News that "the mountain was too big and strong and the houses were made of mud ... There is silence and silence alone."
The UN is helping local authorities and bulldozers are already at work to recover bodies. Out of 23 houses, only one is still standing and there is little hope of finding survivors. "In 2002, an earthquake in the same province killed more than 2,000 people," says the BBC.
