Afghanistan just got torn up by a powerful quake and relief is crawling because aftershocks keep hitting and huge swaths are still cut off. By day two the destruction is clear: whole villages wiped out, Kabul even shook by an aftershock, more homes collapsing, and rescuers digging through rubble in hard-hit Kunar. Desperate people are losing kin and livelihoods, survivors living under tarps, and injured being airlifted while teams try to reach everyone else.

The Taliban insist basic aid is flowing, but it’ll take days to get the wounded to hospitals and to bury the dead, and they admit the Islamic Emirate can’t cope alone and needs international help. The UN warns the toll could explode as many areas remain hard to reach and resources are stretched across crises. Heavy equipment is arriving to clear blocked roads, but access is still limited and hundreds of thousands could be affected.

International aid is starting: India has sent about 1,000 tents and several tons of food; German groups plan funding; the EU is pledging around €1 million; roughly 130 tons of relief supplies—tents, clothing, medical materials, water-purification gear—are to be delivered, and Copernicus has been activated to map the emergency.