Athens: The United Nations is issuing an emergency appeal for nearly USD 140 million in desperately needed funding to help nearly half a million people affected by the devastating earthquake in eastern Afghanistan.
Afghan authorities have said the 6.0 magnitude quake August 31 and ensuing aftershocks killed more than 2,200 people in the country’s mountainous and rugged east. Many of the most severely affected areas have been particularly difficult to get to, with some reachable only by helicopter.
The UN said in a statement Tuesday that the USD 139.6 million, four-month emergency response plan would allow humanitarian organisations to help the 457,000 people who have been affected in the provinces of Kunar, Laghman and Nangarhar.
More than 3,600 people have been injured, with stretched health facilities struggling to provide treatment, while more than 6,700 homes have been damaged or destroyed. The UN has said it has so far been able to visit only 49 of the 411 villages affected due to damaged roads in the rugged terrain.
“This is a moment where the international community must dig deep and show solidarity with a population that has already endured so much suffering,” the UN’s Humanitarian Coordinator for Afghanistan, Indrika Ratwatte, said in a statement. The approaching winter means assistance efforts are in a “race against time,” Ratwatte added.
Local authorities and humanitarian organisations have been conducting relief operations to provide food, shelter and medical care. The UN’s earthquake response plan, which will run to the end of the year, will allow aid organisations to increase operations, particularly in high-elevation areas ahead of winter, the UN statement said.
PTI
