More Tragedy For Afghanistan

A powerful earthquake that shook Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan has killed at least 300 people, aid officials said Tuesday. Afghan regional commanders estimated the death toll would pass 1,000.

ACTED, an aid organization with staffers in the quake area, said field reports indicated the death toll was at least 300, with bodies still being recovered and the ground still shaking from frequent aftershocks from Monday's 5.9-magnitude quake.

The reports of damage centered on the village of Nahrin, which is 90 miles north of Kabul.

"From the helicopter we didn't see any standing homes in and around the villages around Nahrin. There are probably around 1,000 or 1,200 dead," Gen. Khalil, a military commander from Pul-e-Kumri, said by satellite telephone after surveying the area Tuesday. "Everyone is trying to find the members of their families to bring them out of the destroyed walls or collapsed areas.

"The earthquake is going on, and each time, the people are very afraid," said Khalil, who uses only one name. "Everyone is bringing the dead bodies of their families into the yards of their houses or into the streets."

U.N. spokesman Yusuf Hassan said five villages were destroyed.

Earthquakes and seismic activity are common in this part of the world and particularly in the Hindu Kush mountains, though they are not usually felt over such a wide area. A 6.9-magnitude quake based in the same region on May 30, 1998, killed more than 5,000 people.

The offices of ACTED, a non-governmental organization, were destroyed, said Shoja Zare, an ACTED radio operator in Kabul who was in contact with colleagues in Nahrin.

"Each five or 10 minutes there is a shake still going on," he said. "There are no NGOs, there is no hospital, there is no doctor to help these people."

U.S. special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad told reporters that he understood the death toll may reach 1,800, attributing the information to interim Prime Minister Hamid Karzai. But Karzai's staff said they were unaware of such an estimate.

Khalilzad promised assistance to the interim authority and to local Afghans in dealing with the tragedy.

The U.S. Geological Survey in Golden, Colo., said the 5.9 magnitude quake Monday was centered about 105 miles north of Kabul in the Hindu Kush mountains.

A 7.2-magnitude quake in the Hindu Kush mountains on March 3 killed more than 100 people. That quake was the strongest in the region since 1983.

U.N. spokesman Manoel de Almeida e Silva said the United Nations was rushing emergency aid to the scene. He said preliminary reports indicated more than 200 houses were damaged around Nahrin.

Hassan said aid groups were trying to get tents and other emergency supplies to the homeless there.

Although Monday's quake was weaker than the one March 3, it was more shallow - about 40 miles from the surface - meaning it is more likely to cause damage, said Waverly Person, a USGS geophysicist.

The earlier quake, though stronger in magnitude, was 150 miles below the surface.

Because of primitive communications in Afghanistan, it often takes days for damage reports to become available.

By Nicole Winfield