ForumGarden

Not a huge earthquake, but certainly magnitude 7.7 can be lethal. It will be interesting to see, given that the country is awash with fully equipped NATO troops and all their transport already in place, whether armed forces really are capable of providing timely humanitarian aid. It's not often they get the chance to show themselves in a good light.

Powerful earthquake strikes northern Afghanistan - BBC News

Except that, from the USGS report, it doesn't look like the sort of earthquake that kills people. I wonder what the BBC is thinking of.

Depth: 213 km

I may just not understand, we'll have to see.

It would appear as the day progresses that very deep earthquakes kill people a long way away, while normal earthquakes kill people directly above. The death toll so far is around 200, mostly in the next country along, Pakistan, where there are no NATO troops, but that there's less damage close by where the earthquake happened.

The deeper the epicenter, the more distributed the shock wave will be when they approach the surface area. Plus, most injuries are caused by collapsing buildings, falling debris and landslides and such.

I suppose it's like being near the centre of a lightening strike. You don't hear much of the initial strike except in echo, as the force of the sound wave is heading away from you.

The Afghan relief effort to date is documented at Afghanistan-Pakistan quake: Rescue efforts expanded - BBC News

There's no mention of any Western forces, no US or UK forces, no mention of NATO.

"A spokesman said Taliban fighters had been ordered to help the victims".

They are, after all, Afghan. One can only hope the occupying forces, if they're not going to lend a hand, at least stop killing the helpers.

The occupying forces are currently killing Afghans at an attrition rate of around 100 to 1. The earthquake, by comparison, is a pinprick.