Massive earthquake in Afghanistan kills at least 1000 people.

 

People evacuate the injured via helicopter. CNBC/Bakhtar News Agency. 

A massive earthquake in Afghanistan has killed at least 1000 people. Reuters.  The magnitude 6.1 quake destroyed buildings and trapped people inside of the rubble. Rescue operations are being complicated by bad weather, including heavy rains and landslides. The Taliban are trying to coordinate the rescue operations and the effort will be a major challenge for them. Afghanistan is dealing with a major economic crisis in the wake of the Taliban's takeover. The earthquake was the worst one in 20 years in terms of casualties. 

My Comment:

Americans have largely forgotten about Afghanistan as the media has done everything they can to memory-hole how the Taliban took over the country. But it happened and it is still having repercussions for the region. 

The Taliban are probably not going to deal with this event well. They aren't helped by the weather which is extremely bad and might be a disaster in its own right. It's really hard to rescue people in torrential rain and landslides are going to complicate things even more. That's the last thing they need. 

But they were going to have problems regardless. Much of the infrastructure in Afghanistan was destroyed and the Taliban have largely been cut off from western help. They just don't have the equipment and skills to rescue their people here. Indeed, I was very surprised that they still had some helicopters flying to assist in rescue operations. 

This could be very bad news for the Taliban. They are already dealing with an economic disaster that this earthquake will make worse. A lot of people are going to go broke as well because they banned opium production, which was Afghanistan's biggest cash crop. So things are already very bad there. 

But failing to properly react to a major natural disaster could push things over the edge. People will tolerate a lot from a government but they won't stand for it when they fail to react well to a disaster. Just ask George Bush, who's response to Hurricane Katrina, was largely viewed as a failure (unfairly in my mind) and was a reason why Barack Obama was elected in 2008. Obviously there aren't going to be any elections in Afghanistan anytime soon, but it could lead to a revolution against the Taliban. 

Either way, this was a major natural disaster and I think it will get worse before it gets better. I also don't expect Afghanistan to get much help, they have burned their bridges with just about everyone. It's going to be a rough time for anyone living in the country.