An earthquake kills hundreds in Afghanistan

Afghans were already being tormented by hunger, poverty and the aftermath of war when, in the early hours of June 22nd, disaster struck once more. A 5.9-magnitude earthquake centred in the south-eastern province of Khost, on the border with Pakistan, destroyed homes and triggered landslides in Khost and neighbouring Paktika as people slept. When dawn broke, pictures showed villages reduced to rubble or demolished by torrents of shifting earth. Residents sifted through piles of crumbled masonry and began digging graves.