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 highest official of the UN aid in the country, Indrika Ratwatte.
Speaking of Kabul, Mr. Ratwatte said that the mud and wooden roof structures were predominant in the affected mountain provinces.
“When the walls collapse, the roof is what falls essentially on individuals, kills them or stubes them”, “ He said. “Since this has happened in the night, everyone was sleeping,” said the senior United Nations aid, indicating that many more people can be trapped under the debris.
Massive loss of houses, cattle
Hundreds of thousands could be affected, “as in destroyed, injured houses, the victims, lost livestock and the subsistence systems they had,” said Ratwatte.
In the first 24 hours critical after the earthquake, access was “very limited”, due to landslides and rock falls triggered by the tremors. Certain roads were already blocked by previous rock landslides caused by strong recent precipitation.
“This posed a huge challenge for us while we are deploying at the moment,” said Mr. Ratwatte, stressing that 20 emergency evaluation teams have been mobilized alongside 15 mobile teams “which will improve the humanitarian flights from Kabul to Jalalabad”, the capital of the affected province of Nangarhar.
THE United Nations Humanitarian Air Service A planned additional flights connecting Kabul and Jalalabad for staff and freight to increase the answer.
The help manager also said that the UN and others are trying to set up or repair damaged mobile networks because there is “zero connectivity” with certain affected communities, “and even to call on helicopters and land”, another challenge for de facto authorities.
“It is not easy to go to these areas and continue to do the injured shuttle,” he said.
Danger of illness
Mr. Ratwatte underlined the importance of protection work, “including psychosocial support for people who have lost the family and relatives”. He also pointed out that it was urgent to have dead bodies and livestock to prevent water from water, “which can occur very, very quickly”.
One of the first speakers in the affected areas was the Afghan Red Crescent. Joy Singhal, acting chief of delegation for Afghanistan of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent (IFRC), said more people could have been saved if road access was easier.
“Our staff and volunteers must sometimes [walk] For about four to five hours to reach some of these distant villages, “he said. Once they reach their destination, “they have to come back and bring people affected and injured in the city center … The two hospitals there are exceeded. “”
Those who stay in the distant and mountainous areas that have been struck with sequestration need tents, tarpaulins and blankets to protect them from fresh time in highlands. They also need hot meals and food that is available, said Amy Martin, head of the United Nations Coordination Office, Ochhain Afghanistan. Mobile health teams have been sent to some of the affected districts, but they “will be rare”, she noted. “It will be a gap; ensure that we can do this care of trauma and these initial first aid, which is essential. »»
Disaster, many times
Afghanistan has long faced the fact that the UN humanitarian coordinator, Mr. Ratwatte, called “systemic humanitarian challenges”. Half of its population – or around 22.5 million people – needs help, while food insecurity has been aggravated by the recent drought. The reductions in financing humanitarian programs since the beginning of the year have meant that “hundreds” of aid facilities had to close.
“The earthquake arrives at a time when vulnerable communities will be super exposed to additional stress,” said Ratwatte.
Another major challenge is the return to 2025 of 2.4 million Afghan refugees from Iran and Pakistan, which the country’s communities “find it difficult to integrate,” said The spokesperson for the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) Babar Baloch.
“More than half of them are deportations, people who have been placed in buses and other forms of transport and went to the borders to go home, and this has already put an additional restriction on our ability to support,” said Baloch.
Deported
He also pointed out that the majority of returnees go precisely to the areas affected by the earthquake. In another “worrying” development, on Sunday marked “the end of the grace period for Afghan refugees recorded in Pakistan” and Hcr Prepares for “much more yields” in the coming days.
“These people already with very few resources are now returned to a disaster area,” said Baloch.
“We are in Breaking Point in terms of response to the multiple humanitarian shocks of the country,” insisted Mr. Ratwatte de l’UU.
The humanitarian response plan of $ 2.4 billion for Afghanistan for 2025 is funded at 28%, “and here we have an emergency in addition to the situation of the crisis,” he concluded.
Publicado anteriormente en Almouwatin.
