Afghanistan earthquake victims struggle to get help

Experts say getting donations for Afghanistan earthquake victims will be more difficult compared to other disasters due to the sanctions imposed on the country’s Taliban government and its troubled relationship with Western countries.

International groups, which continued their operations in the country after the collapse of its government last year, rushed to eastern Afghanistan to coordinate aid in the region. The country’s state news agency reported that the 6.1-magnitude earthquake on Wednesday killed at least 1,000 and injured at least 1,500 others.

Indeed, the humanitarian response – which usually increases in the first 72 hours after an earthquake – has lagged in scale and speed due to the lack of pre-stored supplies and the level of hunger and poverty that already exists in Afghanistan. Heavy rain and wind also hampered rescue efforts.

“The challenge in Afghanistan is that it’s not just one thing,” said Patricia McClarive, president and CEO of the Center for Disaster Philanthropy. “It’s layer by layer of different issues that affect you and your response and can vary according to the population you serve and what part of the country you work in.”

Many governments and philanthropic donors will not provide funds directly to the Taliban-run government. Those sending aid into the country face hurdles due to the lack of regular flights to Kabul, the country’s capital, as well as customs delays once the donations arrive there. Direct Relief says a shipment of 1 million doses of prenatal vitamins is still being held at customs weeks after it arrived in the country.

To prove that aid to earthquake victims is welcome, the Taliban’s supreme leader, Haibatullah Akhundzadeh, who has almost never appeared in public, called on the international community and humanitarian organizations to “help the Afghan people affected by this great tragedy and spare no effort.”

Daniel Hovey, director of emergency response at Direct Relief, said the request is a sign of significant change.

“This is the first time that the Taliban has asked for outside help,” Hovey said. “Before that, they really wanted to push away a lot of Western NGOs because of the mistrust of Western ideologies. But now this should open some doors, where there were some complications with customs and other things for humanitarian work to help.”

With a limited number of humanitarian organizations still operating in Afghanistan, many nonprofits like Direct Relief are currently waiting to hear from organizations already on the ground about needs they can help address. Direct Relief says it has provided the WHO’s office in Afghanistan with emergency medicines and supplies for trauma care.

The WHO Afghanistan office said on Twitter that its teams had already arrived at a hospital in Afghanistan’s Paktika province, near the epicenter, and that 10 tons of medical supplies were on their way to the area.

UNICEF says it has sent several mobile health and nutrition teams to provide first aid to the injured, adding that it will also provide tents, blankets, kitchen equipment, clothes and hygiene supplies. Other United Nations teams are also on site to assess needs in Paktika.

The World Food Program reported that it had sent at least 18 trucks carrying emergency supplies to the area near the epicenter. It plans to initially provide emergency food to 3,000 families.

US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said in a prepared statement that the United States is the largest donor of humanitarian aid to Afghanistan, and that its humanitarian partners are already providing medical care and shelter supplies to the region. Sullivan said President Joe Biden has directed the US Agency for International Development and other federal government partners to evaluate more US response options.

For those looking to donate to help those affected by the Afghanistan earthquake, McIlrevy, of the Center for Disaster Philanthropy, said focusing on groups currently operating in Afghanistan would be important. She said these groups are likely to reallocate resources from other regions to Afghanistan and then rely on increased donations to replenish those resources.

“It is unlikely that the organizations that left Afghanistan will return,” she said. “You will look at those organizations that have already decided that they will work in the existing environment, that have the capacity to deal with the Afghan government and the standards of the crisis. Those same organizations will now be asked to do more.”

McIlrevy said that encouraging donations to disaster victims in complex political situations can often be more difficult.

“The challenge for all of us is that if we really care about humanity, we need to be able to reduce the victim-blaming mentality that we often encounter in complex emergencies,” she said. “Put people at the center of your thinking, not our judgments about the government and the political situation.”

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The Associated Press’s coverage of charitable and nonprofit organizations is supported by the Associated Press’s collaboration with The Conversation US, funded by Lilly Endowment Inc.. AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s coverage of philanthropy, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.

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