Afghanistan’s remote and poor villages hardest hit by earthquake

Gayan, Paktika – In the early morning hours of Wednesday June 22, the mud homes in this remote part of southeastern Afghanistan began to tremble and collapse under the force of a 5.9-magnitude earthquake.

Panicked residents tried to wake their sleeping relatives. But for hundreds of families, there was no time.

Within minutes the mud roofs on the homes in Gayan district, where poor families of up to 15 people lived together, came crashing down on those still inside.

In the hours that…