well, i m afraid to say tonight the situation is looking even more dire here in paktika, we are seeing hundreds of hundreds of families who have been left homeless. in other news, russian forces continue their advance on ukrainian held towns in the donbas. we join a group of volunteers rushing to evacuate civilians from the area. and after a three year hiatus, the iconic music festival glastonbury open its gates and welcomes back the fans. we start in afghanistan, where a powerful earthquake has killed over 900 people and left hundreds injured. it s the deadliest earthquake to strike the country in 20 years. it hit overnight in the south east of the country. and we know the tremors were felt in pakistan and india as well. most of the confirmed deaths are in paktika province. this is the head of the provincial health body there. buildings collapsing, yeah.
in bringing emergency assistance, assisting those who have survived and who are being moved at the moment, as well as ensuring that medicines can be provided as well as food. earthquakes in afghanistan tend to cause particular damage in rural areas. that s because buildings there tend to be unstable or poorly built. we know that in the past ten years, more than 7000 people have been killed in earthquakes in afghanistan and that the country sees an average of 560 deaths a year from earthquakes. here s one aid worker. the area between khost and paktika, the southeastern region of afghanistan, afghanistan s centre as a whole through and through, lies on a fault line and it s always been prone to earthquakes. but this is probably one of the deadliest in modern history. what s good is that we ve seen
a quick response from the taliban defence ministry, which has commissioned six helicopters to deploy them between the areas of paktika and the neighbouring province. and also shifting patients to kabul. there s been plenty of international reaction, too. this is the pope. translation: i express my sympathy to the injured and those affected by the earthquake, - and i pray in particular for those who have lost their lives and their families. - i hope that with everyone s help, the suffering of the afghan - people can be alleviated. the eu s special envoy to afghanistan says. and this is pakistan s prime minister. he says. we know that aid agencies in pakistan have been assisting with the humanitarian effort. let s hear from one of them. our ambulances from kabul have left for the quake hit area.
you know, in afghanistan, there is no concrete buildings. most people injured and dead are under the building. 0ur dead bodies and injured bodies are increasing. because public are finding the dead bodies under buildings. public people and health workers, all of them, work together on casualties. and this is the scene at a local hospital. afghanistan s health care system is already at breaking point. there s been a shortage of medical supplies and a lack of facilities for months now. we know that the damage is huge. these pictures show some of the earthquake s aftermath. many homes have been reduced to rubble, and rescue teams are still searching for people buried underground. we ve been hearing from some of the survivors. translation: it was midnight when the quake struck. -
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