The earthquake of magnitude six has already left more than 800 dead and at least 2,000 injured, but the total impact could be in the “hundreds of thousands”, according to the UN leader of the UN help in the country, Indrika Matwatte.
Speaking from Kabul, Mr. Matwatte said that mud and wooden roof structures were predominant in the affected mountain provinces.
“When the collapse of the walls, the roof is what basically falls on people, kills or suffocates them.” said. “Since this happened at night, everyone was sleeping,” explained the UN AID official, indicating that many more people can be trapped under the rubble.
Massive loss of houses, cattle
Hundreds of thousands could be affected, “as in houses destroyed, wounds, low, lost cattle and any life system they had,” said Mr. Matwatte.
In the first criticism 24 hours after the earthquake blow, access was “very limited”, due to landslides and rock falls caused by tremors. Some roads were already blocked by previous rock landslides caused by recent heavy rains.
“This has raised a great challenge for us as we display at this time,” said Matwatte, emphasizing that 20 emergency evaluation teams have been mobilized along with 15 mobile equipment “that will improve Kabul’s humanitarian flights to Jalalabad”, capital of the province affected by Nangarhar.
The UN Humanitarian Air Service has scheduled additional flights that connect Kabul and Jalalabad so that staff and load expand the answer.
The help official also said that the UN and others are trying to establish or repair damaged mobile networks, since there is “zero connectivity” with some affected communities, “and even bring helicopters and lands”, another challenge for de facto authorities.
“It is not easy to reach these areas and continue transferring the injured people,” he said.
Danger of the disease
Mr. Matwatte stressed the importance of protection work, “including psychosocial support for people who lost relatives and loved ones.” He also emphasized that it was urgent to get rid of the bodies and the dead cattle to prevent water transmitted diseases, “which can happen very, very fast.”
One of the first to respond in the affected areas was the Afghan Red Crescent. Joy Singhal, interim chief of Delegation of Afghanistan of the International Federation of the Red Cross and the societies of Crescent Red (Iffifr), said that more people could have saved if access to the road were easier.
“Our staff and volunteers sometimes have to (walk) for about four to five hours to reach some of those remote villages,” he said. Once they get to their destination “they have to walk back and bring the affected people and injured to the city center … the two hospitals are overwhelmed.”
Those who stay in remote and mountainous areas affected by the earthquake urgently need tents, canvases and blankets to protect them from the cold climate in the highlands. They also need hot foods and foods that are making available, said Amy Martin, director of the UN Coordination Office, Ocha, in Afghanistan. Mobile health teams have been sent to some of the affected districts, but “they will be scarce,” She noticed. “That will be a gap; make sure that we can make that trauma and that initial first aid, which is critical.”
Families in eastern Afghanistan have been devastated by the earthquake that hit the region on August 31.
Disaster, again and again
Afghanistan has long faced what the UN humanitarian coordinator, Mr. Matwatte, called “systemic humanitarian challenges.” Half of its population, or about 22.5 million people, need assistance, while food insecurity has been aggravated by recent drought. Radical fund cuts to humanitarian programs since the beginning of the year have meant that the “hundreds” of help facilities have had to close.
“The earthquake comes at a time when vulnerable communities will be superimposed on additional tensions,” said Mr. Matwatte.
Another important challenge is the 2025 performance of 2.4 million Afghan refugees from Iran and Pakistan, to whom the country’s communities have been “struggling to integrate,” said the spokesman for the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) Babar Baloch.
“More than half of these are deportations, people who have been put in buses and other forms of transport and have gone to the borders to go home, and has already put greater moderation in our ability to support,” Baloch said.
Deported independently
He also emphasized that most returnees are directed precisely to the areas affected by the earthquake. In another “worrying” development, Sunday marked “the end of grace for Afghan refugees registered in Pakistan” and the UNHCR is preparing for “significantly more returns” in the next few days.
“These people who already have very few resources are now returned to a disaster area,” said Baloch.
“We are at the rupture point in terms of response to the multiple humanitarian clashes in the country,” insisted Mr. Matwatte of the UN.
The Humanitarian Response Plan of $ 2.4 billion for Afghanistan for 2025 is only 28 percent funded, “and here we have an emergency in addition to the crisis situation,” he concluded.
The supplies to save lives are packing and sending from the UNICEF Global Supply Center in Copenhagen in Denmark to support the emergency response to the Afghanistan earthquake.