By Secunder Kermani
BBC News, Paktika province, Afghanistan

Rahmat Gul's family is busy erecting a tent that has just been donated by a former Afghan politician.

It stands next to another, donated by the Red Crescent, in the middle of the courtyard of the empty compound they now call home.

Their houses, in Gayan district of Paktika province, close to the epicentre of the powerful earthquake that struck south-eastern Afghanistan earlier this week, were all destroyed.

Seven members of the family were killed as they slept.

"There is no meaning to my life any more," Rahmat Gul tells us, "I saw my three daughters and four grandchildren die, my heart is broken."

But there are other children to look after. The family spent the first night after the earthquake in the open, soaked by heavy rain.........

© BBC