Death Toll from Earthquake in Afghanistan and Pakistan Reaches 385

According to the latest reports, the death toll from the 7.5 magnitude earthquake on Monday in Afghanistan and Pakistan has reached 385. Pakistani officials say that the number of casualties in their country due to the earthquake has risen to 267 dead and hundreds injured. They add that the earthquake has damaged 10,586 houses in the northwest of the country, with the most severe damage occurring in Shangla district in northeastern Peshawar. Afghan officials also report that the death toll in Afghanistan from the earthquake is 115 dead and 556 injured. Waiz Ahmad Barmak, the Minister of State for Disaster Management in Afghanistan, reported to the Afghan Parliament that 7,630 houses have been destroyed and about a thousand animals have also died due to the earthquake. The epicenter of the earthquake was located in the sparsely populated Badakhshan province in northeastern Afghanistan, near the borders with Pakistan and Tajikistan, but tremors were felt as far away as New Delhi, the capital of India. Meanwhile, Reuters reports that the Taliban has taken advantage of the security vacuum created in the earthquake-affected areas and has taken control of the situation in Darqad district in Takhar province in northern Afghanistan since early Wednesday. Abdul Khalil Asir, a spokesman for the Takhar police, told reporters that Afghan security forces were forced to retreat from the district after six hours of gunfire exchange with Taliban forces. This development comes as the Taliban announced on Tuesday that they would allow aid groups to enter Taliban-controlled areas to assist the victims. Abdullah Najib Nazari, head of the Badakhshan provincial council, told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's Afghanistan section that no assistance has yet been sent by the government for the victims in this province.