UN: Over 5,000 Homes Destroyed by Deadly Afghanistan Earthquake

AP

Residents from surrounding regions trying to reach earthquake-hit areas to rescue victims.

An initial United Nations assessment of the devastating earthquake in Afghanistan has found that 5,230 homes were destroyed and 672 damaged across 49 villages. However, the UN has been unable to reach most of the affected remote areas.

Shannon O’Hara, coordination chief for the UN humanitarian office in Afghanistan, said on Monday that damaged roads in the rugged, mountainous east — where the 6.0-magnitude quake struck — have made it extremely difficult to conduct a full assessment in the 441 affected villages. A series of aftershocks, ranging from 5.2 to 5.6 in magnitude, have further hampered access, she added.

The earthquake struck on 31 August, killing at least 2,200 people. The death toll is expected to rise as more bodies are recovered. The United Nations estimates that up to 500,000 people have been affected, more than half of them children, including Afghans forcibly returned from neighbouring Pakistan and Iran.

Illustrating the scale of the challenge, O’Hara explained that it took her more than six and a half hours to travel from Jalalabad — the largest city near the quake zone — to the worst-hit area, around 100 kilometres away. The only road is a narrow, single-lane track carved into the mountainside, blocked in several places by rocks from landslides.

Many vehicles, including trucks loaded with humanitarian aid, were trying to get up and down the valley to help, she said.

“As we drove towards the epicenter, we saw families walking in the opposite direction — displaced, carrying what little they could. Many were still wearing the same clothes from the night of the earthquake,” O’Hara said. “Mothers and fathers were carrying their children, some with fresh bandages covering their injuries.”

She said the devastation worsened as the UN team approached the epicentre, with entire villages reduced to rubble and the overwhelming smell of dead animals filling the air. Families who had lost both their homes and livelihoods were sheltering in overcrowded tents, while many others were forced to sleep in the open, exposed to rain and cold.

“There was no clean drinking water and no sanitation, with cholera endemic in the region, and initial assessments indicating that 92% of these communities are practicing open defecation,” she said. “The potential for a cholera outbreak is alarming. “

O’Hara, who has been in the quake-affected region for five days, reported the initial assessment at a video press conference with UN journalists.

She said the needs are overwhelming — including clean water, food, tents, latrines, and warm clothing — as the region approaches the onset of winter snows at the end of October.

During visits to three camps for displaced families on Monday, O’Hara noted that women in particular stressed the urgent need for clean water and proper clothing for themselves and their children.

She said time is of the essence. “Any day, rainfall could cause flash floods in the valleys” where camps for the displaced have been set up and ”additional aftershocks could cause more severe landslides, cutting off access to communities still living near the epicenter,” O’Hara said.

“And snow will cut off access to these mountain valleys,” she said. “If we don’t act now, these communities may not survive the coming winter.”

The United Nations will be issuing an emergency appeal Tuesday for desperately needed funding to help quake survivors, O’Hara said.



PUKMEDIA