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Miscarriages soar in the Herat earthquake zone
Farshid Aram* authored this report for Zan Times, translated to English by Rustam Seerat
In early October 2023, Golandam* was in the final days of her pregnancy. The 32-year-old, who lives in the village of Nayeb Rafie in Herat province, had taken to holding onto her back to ease the heavy pain she was experiencing in her swollen belly and pelvis. After being awake all night due to back pain, she hadn’t the appetite to eat any of the food her sister brought her. Finally, around 11 a.m., she remembers closing her eyes and drifting off to sleep. Moments later, an earthquake shook her house. The first tremor was mild, but the second, with a magnitude of 6.3, buried Golandam’s children, mother, sister, and nieces under the rubble.
Golandam was also trapped under the debris. When the ceiling collapsed on her, she fell forward onto the ground. Due to her swollen belly, she couldn’t move. Intense pain immediately overtook her body. Her water broke and she began experiencing labour pains in addition to breathing difficulties. Her only wish was for the fetus in her womb to survive: “I had a pain as if someone was stabbing inside my stomach. I couldn’t bear it for more than a few seconds and lost consciousness.”
