A powerful earthquake on Sunday, struck western Afghanistan again, making it the fourth to hit the impoverished region since 7 October.
UN agencies have reported that the latest 6.3 magnitude earthquake which struck areas northeast of Herat city Sunday morning local time, has caused more suffering for families left with little to survive on as the hard winter approaches.
According to the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), as of Monday evening local time, two people were reported to have been killed and over 150 injured in the latest quake.
About 43,000 people (7,165 families) are reported to have been directly affected by the earthquakes and their aftershocks across the region, according to OCHA. More than 3,300 homes are reported to have been destroyed, 2,100 severely damaged, and 1,700 moderately damaged.
In total, about 1,500 people have died, and a further 2,000 injured.
Aid facilities, homes, water sources, and offices are also reported to have sustained damage of varying severity, and engineering assessments are ongoing to ascertain structural damage, and to allow traumatized residents to return to their homes.
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Daniel Peter Endres, who is the acting UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Afghanistan, described the situation there as “a race against time” for aid organisations to deliver assistance before the onset of winter.
“These earthquakes have struck some of the most vulnerable communities in Afghanistan, they have already been grappling with decades of conflicts and under development,” he told journalists in New York, via video link. “The affected communities have little resilience to cope with the multiple and simultaneous shocks, and especially with the cold winter coming, when households have limited food resources and are most constrained in capacity.”
He further stated that nightly temperatures have dipped considerably, adding that many whose homes were damaged are sleeping outside, afraid their dwellings might collapse completely.
He also mentioned that local communities and aid organizations are helping those in need by providing food and non-food relief items, including tents, blankets and heating supplies. However, more help is needed.
The humanitarian community in Afghanistan is reported to have created an initial response plan for recovery, focusing on 114,000 people whose homes were destroyed or badly damaged. The plan may be revised as necessary.
Mr. Endres said the crisis response will be absorbed within the 2023 Afghanistan Response Plan, which is itself severely underfunded.
On Monday, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) said that the powerful earthquakes are said to have added to “a mountain of hardship” facing Afghans.
“These are communities that are already barely able to feed themselves, and every one of these crises pounds them back into utter destitution,” added Philippe Kropf, an agency spokesperson in Afghanistan, who went to affected villages after the first earthquakes struck last week.
“This comes on the back of nearly 40 years of near uninterrupted conflict,” he stressed, “of high levels of food insecurity, of five years of drought or drought-like conditions – and an economic downturn two years ago that has destroyed livelihoods and jobs.”
Story was adapted from UN News.
