A ruined village in eastern Afghanistan, just 10 kilometres from the epicentre of this week's deadly earthquake, is struggling back to life as aid trickles into the isolated region. 

Wuchkai, three hours away from the nearest town of any substance, can only be reached by a narrow, rutted dirt road -- with space for just one vehicle in places.

Isolated, without electricity and water, the village sprawls over a large basin surrounded by imposing hills and bisected by an almost-dry river.

Many of the village dwellings, workshops and stores were destroyed by Wednesday's 5.9-magnitude earthquake, whose epicentre was recorded on the other side of the hills that flank it.

More than 1,000 people were killed in the quake -- the country's deadliest in over two decades -- with Wuchkai alone accounting for at least three dozen.

Now the survivors are trying to find shelter in the ruins of their homes, desperately dependent on the aid convoys that have started to arrive.