Hamidullah weeps as he stands in the ruins of his family home in eastern Afghanistan that was destroyed by a devastating earthquake last week.
The teenager is his family’s sole survivor of the midnight tremor that struck the remote mountainous province of Kunar on August 31.
Over the past week, he and his neighbors in the district of Chawkai pulled the bodies of his parents, five sisters, and two brothers from the rubble.
“They had all turned black,” Hamidullah told RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi. “They were lying in bed [when the earthquake struck]. They all died in their beds.”
Hamidullah also lost 26 relatives, including uncles, aunts, and cousins, in the 6.0.-magnitude earthquake.
His family and relatives were among the over 2,200 people killed in the deadliest earthquake to hit Afghanistan in years. Over 3,600 were also injured in the tremor, which wiped out entire villages in the region.
One of Hamidullah’s uncles, who lives in Chawkai district, survived the earthquake.
“This area is completely destroyed,” he said without revealing his name. “There was a lot of livestock and homes here, but they’re all gone.”
Hamidullah, who works in the neighboring province of Nangarhar, was not at his family home when the earthquake hit.
The powerful earthquake has exacerbated the devastating humanitarian and economic crises that have gripped Afghanistan since the Taliban seized power in 2021. The militant group’s takeover triggered major cuts to international assistance.
The Taliban called off the search for survivors on September 8, though locals said they would continue to look for those unaccounted for.
Emergency services have struggled to reach remote villages. Thousands of people are living out in the open and are struggling to access food, drinking water, and shelter.
Recent flooding in the region and rugged terrain have complicated rescue efforts. In some areas, villagers used their bare hands to clear the rubble in a race to find survivors.
