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Not only Ukraine, but also Afghanistan is being pushed out of the headlines by the new Middle East war. Help is urgently needed.
“At least there have been no new earthquakes in the last few days,” says Philippe Kropf. He is spokesman for the UN World Food Program (WFP). But even without new tremors, the situation in the earthquake zone in western Afghanistan is difficult enough.
“We are still coming to new villages where no one has been before.” And the earthquake hotline in Kabul, where villages that need help call, is still running hot, says Kropf.
The WFP has now distributed energy bars and food packages to more than 100,000 affected people. The bars provide the first energy boost. “A package weighing 2.1 kilograms can last a family of seven for three days.”
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Keystone/Samiullah Popal
According to the Taliban, around 2,000 people lost their lives in the severe earthquake around two weeks ago in the western region of Herat in Afghanistan, and the UN speaks of at least 1,400 deaths. These mainly affected women and children because the most severe earthquakes occurred during the day when men were in the fields and at work. More than 150,000 people have lost their house and therefore their home. Many people are camping in the open air for fear of further earthquakes. Unicef and other aid organizations are warning that the situation is getting worse, especially as winter approaches.
The United Nations children’s fund Unicef has also just sent 80 tons of aid to Afghanistan. These are primarily medical supplies, but also blankets and warm clothing.
96,000 children are affected by homelessness and urgently need humanitarian assistance.
“The situation is catastrophic,” says Unicef representative Saskia Kobelt. “96,000 children are affected by homelessness and urgently need humanitarian assistance.”
Everything is simply missing
There is a lack of everything in the affected areas, says Kobelt. The 80 tons of aid from the UN are therefore just a drop in the ocean. Of course, people now urgently need medical help. But much more: clean drinking water, food and, given the approaching winter, warm clothing and blankets.
It has already become significantly cooler and windier. And not everyone who lost their house already had a tent over their head, says Kobelt.
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Tens of thousands of children are acutely affected by the earthquake and need help; Water, food, but also winter-proof tents, warm clothing and blankets. Image: Sandstorms are already indicating the approaching winter and the coming cold.
Keystone/Ebrahim Noroozi
Water is also scarce in the earthquake zones around the city of Herat because the entire area has been plagued by droughts for five years. Aid organizations are currently delivering drinking water to the area using small tank trucks. But there is not enough water for the farm animals, says Philippe Kropf from the WFP in Kabul.
The canal system for irrigation was destroyed by the earthquake, which is why the animals and the fields can no longer be watered or irrigated.
There isn’t enough money to help everyone
And just providing for people is difficult enough. The WFP originally expected to have to help 100,000 people affected by the earthquake. The forecast has now been revised upwards to 118,000. “That costs us $23 million,” says Kropf.
It is becoming increasingly difficult to find enough money for aid deliveries. The WFP is missing $400 million for Afghanistan alone. Even before the earthquakes, of the 15 million Afghans who depend on food deliveries, only three million could be supplied. Now even more needy people are arriving – and winter is just around the corner.
At the end of September, Unicef was also missing more than half of the donations needed for Afghanistan. And that was before the earthquake. Other organizations also complain that there is a certain lack of donations.
There is already a fear that they will have to play one crisis off against another.