ISLAMABAD: An initial United Nations assessment says 5,230 homes have been destroyed and nearly 700 damaged in eastern Afghanistan after last week’s deadly earthquake, but aid workers have yet to reach the majority of the remote villages hit hardest.
According to the Associated Press, Shannon O’Hara, the coordination chief for the UN humanitarian office in Afghanistan, said that damaged roads and repeated aftershocks have made it extremely difficult to reach the quake-stricken areas, where 441 villages remain cut off.
‘Overwhelming’ humanitarian needs
The 6.0 magnitude earthquake struck on August 31, killing at least 2,200 people — a toll expected to rise as more bodies are recovered. The UN estimates up to 500,000 people have been affected, more than half of them children, including Afghans forcibly returned from Pakistan and Iran.
O’Hara described the destruction as “overwhelming,” with entire villages flattened, families displaced, and people forced to sleep in tents or under the open sky. With no clean drinking water or sanitation in place, she warned of a possible cholera outbreak in a region where the disease is already endemic.
Race against time
Aid agencies say the window to respond is closing fast. Winter snows arrive by the end of October, and O’Hara cautioned that flash floods and landslides could soon cut off access entirely. “If we don’t act now, these communities may not survive the coming winter,” she said.
The UN is set to issue an emergency appeal for funding on Tuesday, urging donors to step in with food, tents, warm clothing and latrines. Taliban authorities, O’Hara added, have so far taken the lead in search-and-rescue efforts and have not obstructed aid operations.
