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CNN Live At Daybreak

Pair of Earthquakes Strike Afghanistan

Aired March 26, 2002 - 06:14   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And now we have more of those two big earthquakes that happened in northern Afghanistan, about 100 miles north of Kabul. As many as 1,800 people may have been killed.

Our Walter Rodgers is not far from there.

And, Walter, you actually felt the tremors of those quakes.

WALTER RODGERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Indeed, Carol, last night between 8:30 and 9:00 Kabul time, I was in the office working, and the table that I was typing on began to sway. You look up, the light fixtures began to sway and the building itself was swaying. Now here in Kabul it was a relatively mild earthquake, nothing particularly serious, but just 100 miles to the north, it was a much, much different story.

The epicenter of the quake was apparently the Hindu Kush in northeastern Afghanistan, an extremely rugged area, and the nearest province to that, the Baghlan Province, capital Nahrin, was very, very badly hit. We believe the magnitude of the quake was about six. We do not know the duration of the earthquake, but it was very, very severe.

Initially we were hearing reports of not very high casualties, but then you have to recall this is a very rudimentary country, poor communications, and as the -- as daylight came this morning, it was clear the casualties, the fatalities were much, much higher than the original estimates. We got the first indication the fatality numbers would grow, ironically, from the U.S. Embassy this morning where Zalmay Khalilzad, President Bush's special envoy to Afghanistan, announced that the numbers were much higher.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ZALMAY KHALILZAD, U.S. SPECIAL ENVOY: I've been informed to let you know that Chairman Karzai has just announced that 1,800 Afghans died as a result of the earthquake last night. As I did at the beginning, I would like to offer our condolences, our sympathies, and we will provide assistance to the interim authority and local Afghans in dealing with this tragedy.

Thank you very much.

(END VIDEO CLIP) RODGERS: Since Mr. Khalilzad made those remarks, however, the fatality figures have inched even higher. We've seen numbers of perhaps as many as 4,800 people dead, at least 4,000 injured, 20,000 or more may be homeless. The reason for that, of course, is because the construction in this part of the world is very rudimentary, primitive, that is to say you have adobe brick homes built on no foundation whatsoever. And recall that when that quake hit last night, many Afghans were inside their houses, the worst of all possible circumstances because, of course, the roofs and the walls would have collapsed on many people, which is why the estimates are so high on fatalities.

Recall also, by way of footnote, that just three or four years ago, 1998, in that very same Baghlan Province, northeastern Afghanistan, 7,000 people perished in an earthquake -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Just unbelievable.

Thank you. Walter Rodgers reporting live for us from Afghanistan this morning.

And again, no U.S. troops injured in those terrible earthquakes there.

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