The deadly earthquake is another blow to poverty-stricken Afghans

(AFP)

The deadly earthquake that struck Afghanistan this week has hit one of the poorest corners of the country, which has been plagued by increasing poverty. Even with more aid arriving on Saturday, many residents have no idea how to rebuild the thousands of destroyed homes in villages stretched across the mountains.

The quake, which state media says killed at least 1,150 people, was the hardest hit in the high mountain region where the Paktika and Khost provinces meet on the Pakistani border. There is little fertile land, so residents earn what they can while relying largely on money sent by relatives who have migrated to Pakistan, Iran or abroad for jobs.

Each of the twenty homes in one village, Meradin, was reduced to rubble by Wednesday’s earthquake. On the rainy nights since, hundreds of its residents have been sleeping in the nearby forests and have yet to receive aid that has been slowly making its way to the earthquake-stricken areas.

Miradin residents told The Associated Press they are concerned about their ability to rebuild before the harsh winter sets in, in just a few months. Summer is short in the mountains, and the nights are really cool.

Fear is felt throughout the quake-hit area, with nearly 3,000 homes believed to have been destroyed. The United Nations Organization for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said it had reports that 700-800 families in the area were still living in the open.

We are facing many problems. “We need all kinds of support, and we are asking the international community and Afghans who can help to come forward and help us,” said Dawlat Khan, a resident of Paktika district in Jayan. Five members of his family were injured when his house collapsed.

Among the dead in Wednesday’s 6.0-magnitude earthquake, 121 were children, said the representative of the United Nations children’s agency in Afghanistan, and that number was expected to rise. He said nearly 70 children were injured. Friday’s aftershock killed five others.

The official Afghan News Agency, Bakhtar, put the total number of dead at 1,150 dead and at least 1,600 wounded. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs put the death toll at 770. Both would make the earthquake in Afghanistan the deadliest in two decades.

More aid piled up on Saturday.

In Urgan, the main city of Paktika province, medical supplies for the United Nations World Health Organization have been unloaded at the main hospital. In villages hit by the earthquake, UNICEF has distributed blankets, basic supplies and blankets to the homeless to use as tents.

In the Sabra district of Khost province on Saturday, UNICEF distributed water purification tablets as well as soap and other hygiene items. Aid groups said they feared an outbreak of cholera after damage to water and hygiene systems.

Officials said new cargo flights of aid supplies have arrived in Afghanistan from Pakistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. The Pakistani government and a Pakistani charity have already sent 13 trucks loaded with food, tents, life-saving medicines and other essential items, and Pakistan has opened some border crossings to take the wounded for treatment.

Exhausted aid agencies said the disaster underscored the need for the international community to rethink its financial cut to Afghanistan since Taliban fighters seized the country 10 months ago. That policy, which halted billions in development aid and froze vital reserves, helped drive the economy into collapse and deepened Afghanistan into imminent humanitarian crises of famine.

Victim assistance efforts have been slowed by geography and Afghanistan’s dire situation.

The winding roads through the mountains, which were already slow to drive, were made worse by earthquake and rain damage. Lucien Christine, a spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross in Afghanistan, said the International Red Cross has five health facilities in the area, but damage to roads has made it difficult for those in the hardest-hit areas to reach.

Aid groups said that while they are rushing to help earthquake victims, keeping Afghanistan above disaster through humanitarian programs is not sustainable.

“We are basically allowing 25 million Afghans to starve, die and not be able to make ends meet if we continue this financial blockade,” said Rossella Mixio, head of the relief organization that runs a network of healthcare. Surgical facilities and centers across Afghanistan.

The Afghan economy was dependent on international donor support even before the Taliban seized power last August, as the United States and its NATO allies were withdrawing their forces, ending a 20-year war.

The world’s governments have halted billions of dollars in development aid and froze billions more of Afghanistan’s currency reserves, refusing to recognize the Taliban government and asking them to allow for more inclusive governance and respect for human rights. Former insurgents resisted pressure, placing restrictions on the freedoms of women and girls that are remembered for their first time in power in the late 1990s.

Cut off the props pieces from under the economy. Now nearly half of the population of 38 million cannot meet their basic food needs due to poverty. Most civil servants, including doctors, nurses and teachers, have not been paid for months, and salaries remain spotty.

The United Nations and other remaining organizations have kept Afghanistan from the brink of famine with a humanitarian program that has fed millions and kept the medical system alive.

But with international donors lagging behind, UN agencies face a funding shortfall of $3 billion this year.

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