Western Afghanistan experienced a 6.3 magnitude earthquake over the weekend leaving more than 2,400 people dead and over 10,000 people injured with the toll still rising.

The quake hit villages 40km from Herat’s centre at 11am local time on Saturday.

Thousands of homes have been destroyed trapping people under the rubble. Villages resorted to shovelling and using their hands to remove the rubble from those buried beneath.

Herat resident, Bashir Ahman told AFP news that the village was not equipped with homes made from earthquake-proof construction but rather mud.

“In the very first shake all the houses collapsed,” he said. “Those who were inside the houses were buried…there are families we have heard no news from.”

The Herat Hospital’s 600-bed capacity has forced paramedics to treat those still injured in an outside makeshift hospital. Afghanistan’s hospitals are already ill-equipped with medical facilities and the majority of them hold under a 300-bed capacity.

A medic from Herat Hospital told The Guardian of the hard reality of lost ones due to the lack of resources the hospital can provide.

“We are struggling with the very high number of injured people. I have not counted dead bodies. Our morgue is out of capacity.”

“Vans filled with dead bodies are arriving here each minute,” he said.

Photo: A woman stands by her house, which was destroyed during the Cizre clashes by Nadim Yilmaz available HERE and used under a Creative Commons license. This image has not been modified.