Afghanistan quake destroyed 5,230 homes in 49 villages — but the UN hasn’t gotten to 362 others

By Edith Lederer

An initial United Nations assessment of the impact of Afghanistan’s recent deadly earthquake found 5,230 homes destroyed and 672 damaged in 49 villages — but the U.N. hasn’t been able to get to the vast majority of the remote villages.

Shannon O’Hara, the coordination chief for the U.N. humanitarian office in Afghanistan, said Monday that damaged roads in the country’s rugged and mountainous east where the 6.0 magnitude quake struck have made it extremely difficult to assess the impact in the 441 affected villages. A series of aftershocks ranging from 5.2 to 5.6 in magnitude added to the difficulties, she said.

The earthquake struck on Aug. 31, killing at least 2,200 people, and that figure could rise as more bodies are recovered. The United Nations estimates the quake has affected up to 500,000 people, more than half of them children and some of them Afghans forcibly returned from neighboring Pakistan