Rescuers scramble to reach Afghan quake survivors as foreign aid arrives

Desperate rescuers battled against the clock and heavy rain on Thursday to reach cut-off areas in eastern Afghanistan after a powerful earthquake killed at least 1,000 people and left thousands more homeless.

Wednesday’s 5.9-magnitude quake struck hardest in the rugged east, downing mobile phone towers and power lines while triggering rock and mudslides that blocked mountain roads.

“Getting information from the ground is very difficult because of bad networks,” Mohammad Amin Huzaifa, head of information for the badly hit Paktika province, told AFP on Thursday, adding there was no immediate update to the death toll.