(2 Jun 1998) English/Nat

Helicopters shipped in tonnes of building supplies and evacuated more injured from northern Afghanistan on Tuesday, trying to aid villages ripped apart by an earthquake.

The death toll has been climbing steadily and as many as five-thousand people are believed to have died in the 6.9 magnitude quake.

Most of the remote region's 70-thousand people have been left homeless.

The village of Shegani-Chavgani in Northern Afghanistan is still without aid four days after Saturday's earthquake reduced it to rubble.

Lying some 40 kilometres (24 miles) east of Faisabad, the village, like many of those hit by the earthquake can only be reached by helicopter.

Villagers described what happened when the earthquake hit.

SOUNDBITE: (Dari)
The earthquake hit at 10 am on Saturday. All of the men were at work in the fields so we have mostly women and children, especially the smallest children crushed under the rubble."
SUPER CAPTION: Mohammed Chikana

Many mountain roads have been blocked by landslides, forcing aid workers to rely on helicopters to ferry in supplies and bring the most seriously injured to regional hospitals.

Up to 80 villages were estimated to be heavily damaged by the earthquake, and another dozen obliterated.

Thousands of people were still missing as aid workers struggled to reach the region.

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"We don't go there, we cannot give numbers right now. I can't, I don't have the information."
SUPER CAPTION: Marisio Fuzer, Medecins Sans Frontieres Co-ordinator

With poor sanitation and recent rains, the risks of malaria, cholera and hemorrhagic fever were rising as each day passed.

The European Union granted 1.65 (m) million U-S dollars in aid today for the earthquake victims.

France, Japan, Germany and the Netherlands were also sending aid.

Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives ​​
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/


You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/af24314d7f1b18ea13f8e941aac38fd8