KABUL: The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) team in Afghanistan has said that women and children are the two-thirds of the victims of the recent earthquake in Afghanistan.
Dr. Alaa Abouzeid, during an interview with Western media said that most of the children and women who were hospitalized had severe injuries.
The head of WHO emergency response in Afghanistan said as the earthquake occurred around 11 in the morning so majority of those who were wounded or killed were women and children.
A series of powerful earthquakes hit western Afghanistan on Saturday, leaving a trail of destruction and despair. The disaster is feared to have killed more than 2,000 people, with approximately 1,200 people injured, and at least 1,300 houses destroyed.
Financing humanitarian operations become difficult
Dr. Alaa Abouzeid said that financing the humanitarian operations has become difficult as the global attention and funding is not coming to Afghanistan.
Abouzeid said he was devastated by seeing the number of children in hospital in critical condition.
The WHO official said he had seen a baby in the hospital with head trauma, due to the earthquake.
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He noted that such condition can cause long-lasting disabilities. He added the WHO’s response teams were taking the earthquake seriously and trying to help the injured.
He was of the view that hospitals in Afghanistan need to be better equipped to cope with further casualties and similar situations.
Afghanistan’s healthcare system that is dependent on foreign assistance has faced heavy cuts in the two years since the Taliban took the country.
The UN’s humanitarian office has pledged US $5 million worth of financial assistance for the quake response.
