美国国家公共电台 NPR--More than 900 people have reportedly been killed in an earthquake in Afghanistan

More than 900 people have reportedly been killed in an earthquake in Afghanistan

Transcript¹

KABUL, Afghanistan – A powerful 5.9 magnitude earthquake shook eastern Afghanistan overnight, causing homes of mud-brick and cinder² block to collapse³ over sleeping families, adding a new emergency to a country that has already endured much suffering.

The Taliban's state-run news agency reported more than 920 people were killed and more than 600 more injured. They cited the deputy state minister for natural disaster management, Mawlavi Sharfuddin Muslim. It was not possible to immediately confirm that number, because the earthquake hit remote areas.

Giving a sense of the scale of destruction, the Bakhtar News Agency uploaded the video of an unnamed man whose cellphone swung around to catch homes crumpled⁴ in the morning light.

"I'm doing this video to show that all people here are under the building," he says. "Under that house, five people. This house, six people." He turns to another pile of rubble⁵: "And in this house, 13 dead bodies still under," he says. Swinging his camera further up the hill, he says, "All the village completely is destroyed."

An image shared by the news agency showed men extracting what appeared to be a small body wrapped in a blanket out of the rubble, one man lighting⁶ the scene with what appeared to a small flashlight clenched⁷ between his teeth. A later video showed men lying on gurneys amid the rubble.

The U.S. Geological Survey says the earthquake originated at a shallow depth of 10 kilometers — around 6.2 miles.

U.S. Geological Survey

The hardest hit areas were remote farming villages in the eastern Afghan provinces of Paktika and Khost – so remote that Afghan authorities dispatched seven helicopters and a medical team to help with the rescue mission.

Those provinces border the rugged⁸ mountains of northwest Pakistan. A legislator who represents one of those neighboring Pakistani districts, Mohsin Dawar, shared images with NPR that showed homes strewn in piles of rubble. He said so far, it was unclear what happened to the men, women and children who had been sleeping in them.

Taliban officials expressed their condolences and called on Afghans to help each other — and many are doing so. The Afghan Red Crescent society said on Twitter that it was dispatching aid to affected⁹ areas.

Men have turned up in neighboring unaffected areas to donate blood at local medical centers, said UNICEF's Afghanistan communication chief Samantha Mort.

She said the U.N. agency was also helping¹⁰: "We've got people on the ground who are distributing blankets and and hygiene¹¹ kits¹². We've got several mobile health and nutrition teams on the way to administer first aid to those who are injured."

She added the disaster has struck a country already shaken by so many hardships. "This is a population that is deeply impoverished¹³, where there is high unemployment, where they are suffering from the worst drought in 37 years. There's also a chronic¹⁴ malnutrition¹⁵ crisis," she said. "We're seeing outbreaks of preventable diseases such as measles¹⁶ and acute watery¹⁷ diarrhea."

The United Nations has been struggling to raise enough money to cover its needs for this year – which include helping to feed nearly half of Afghanistan's population of forty million people.

But the Secretary General's deputy special representative for Afghanistan, Dr. Ramiz Alakbarov, said on Twitter that they were "assessing the needs" of the victims of the earthquake, adding that a response was on its way.

The quake originated just 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) below the Earth's surface, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Shallow depths like that often bring a greater risk for damage, because the energy from such quakes doesn't dissipate as much as it moves toward the surface.

Strike-slip faulting likely triggered the earthquake, the USGS says, citing the pattern of powerful waves radiating from its epicenter. Earthquakes in the region are caused by an ongoing¹⁸ massive collision, as the India tectonic plate pushes northward¹⁹ into the Eurasia plate.

The quake hit roughly 300 miles from where an even stronger temblor struck in western Pakistan in 2008, sparking landslides²⁰ and killing²¹ 166 people.

Hadid reported from Islamabad; Qazizai reported from Kabul; Chappell reported from Washington. NPR's Ayana Archie contributed to this report.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 cinder   

n.余烬，矿渣

参考例句：

• The new technology for the preparation of superfine ferric oxide from pyrite cinder is studied.研究了用硫铁矿烧渣为原料，制取超细氧化铁红的新工艺。
• The cinder contains useful iron,down from producing sulphuric acid by contact process.接触法制硫酸的矿渣中含有铁矿。

3 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

4 crumpled   

adj. 弯扭的, 变皱的 动词crumple的过去式和过去分词形式

参考例句：

• She crumpled the letter up into a ball and threw it on the fire. 她把那封信揉成一团扔进了火里。
• She flattened out the crumpled letter on the desk. 她在写字台上把皱巴巴的信展平。

5 rubble   

n.（一堆）碎石，瓦砾

参考例句：

• After the earthquake,it took months to clean up the rubble.地震后，花了数月才清理完瓦砾。
• After the war many cities were full of rubble.战后许多城市到处可见颓垣残壁。

6 lighting   

n.照明，光线的明暗，舞台灯光

参考例句：

• The gas lamp gradually lost ground to electric lighting.煤气灯逐渐为电灯所代替。
• The lighting in that restaurant is soft and romantic.那个餐馆照明柔和而且浪漫。

7 clenched   

v.紧握，抓紧，咬紧( clench的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He clenched his fists in anger. 他愤怒地攥紧了拳头。
• She clenched her hands in her lap to hide their trembling. 她攥紧双手放在腿上，以掩饰其颤抖。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 rugged   

adj.高低不平的，粗糙的，粗壮的，强健的

参考例句：

• Football players must be rugged.足球运动员必须健壮。
• The Rocky Mountains have rugged mountains and roads.落基山脉有崇山峻岭和崎岖不平的道路。

9 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

10 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

11 hygiene   

n.健康法，卫生学 （a.hygienic）

参考例句：

• Their course of study includes elementary hygiene and medical theory.他们的课程包括基础卫生学和医疗知识。
• He's going to give us a lecture on public hygiene.他要给我们作关于公共卫生方面的报告。

12 kits   

衣物和装备( kit的名词复数 )； 成套用品； 配套元件

参考例句：

• Keep your kits closed and locked when not in use. 不用的话把你的装备都锁好放好。
• Gifts Articles, Toy and Games, Wooden Toys, Puzzles, Craft Kits. 采购产品礼品，玩具和游戏，木制的玩具，智力玩具，手艺装备。

13 impoverished   

adj.穷困的，无力的，用尽了的v.使（某人）贫穷( impoverish的过去式和过去分词 )；使（某物）贫瘠或恶化

参考例句：

• the impoverished areas of the city 这个城市的贫民区
• They were impoverished by a prolonged spell of unemployment. 他们因长期失业而一贫如洗。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 chronic   

adj.(疾病)长期未愈的，慢性的；极坏的

参考例句：

• Famine differs from chronic malnutrition.饥荒不同于慢性营养不良。
• Chronic poisoning may lead to death from inanition.慢性中毒也可能由虚弱导致死亡。

15 malnutrition   

n.营养不良

参考例句：

• In Africa, there are a lot of children suffering from severe malnutrition.在非洲有大批严重营养不良的孩子。
• It is a classic case of malnutrition. 这是营养不良的典型病例。

16 measles   

n.麻疹，风疹，包虫病，痧子

参考例句：

• The doctor is quite definite about Tom having measles.医生十分肯定汤姆得了麻疹。
• The doctor told her to watch out for symptoms of measles.医生叫她注意麻疹出现的症状。

17 watery   

adj.有水的，水汪汪的；湿的，湿润的

参考例句：

• In his watery eyes there is an expression of distrust.他那含泪的眼睛流露出惊惶失措的神情。
• Her eyes became watery because of the smoke.因为烟熏，她的双眼变得泪汪汪的。

18 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

19 northward   

adv.向北；n.北方的地区

参考例句：

• He pointed his boat northward.他将船驶向北方。
• I would have a chance to head northward quickly.我就很快有机会去北方了。

20 landslides   

山崩( landslide的名词复数 )； （山坡、悬崖等的）崩塌； 滑坡； （竞选中）一方选票占压倒性多数

参考例句：

• Landslides have cut off many villages in remote areas. 滑坡使边远地区的许多村庄与外界隔绝。
• The storm caused landslides and flooding in Savona. 风暴致使萨沃纳发生塌方和洪灾。

21 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。