made of earth

A government worker representing the district said, “Most of the houses are made of earth, and when there are floods, the houses become like mud and they collapse.”

Eyewitness: Sarhadi Khosti, 26, who lives in the Sperah district of Khost Province, said that he was awakened by the earthquake after 1 a.m. and that a number of houses — many made of earth or wood — had been destroyed.

Eyewitness: Sarhadi Khosti, 26, who lives in the Sperah district of Khost Province, said that he had been awoken by the earthquake after 1 a.m. and that a number of houses — especially those made of earth or wood — had been destroyed.

Though the rains weren’t as bad, their homes made of earth were easily swept away by the waters, he said.

He had turned his bachelor pad — a round “tata somba” house made of earth with a thatched, pointed roof — into a family compound with flush toilets and flat-screen TVs.