United Nations
25 Jun 2022, 06:21 GMT+10
Emergency lifesaving aid relief continued to flow into quake-hit eastern Afghanistan on Friday, as UN humanitarians and partners rushed to help the most vulnerable communities.
One of the UN teams on the ground, the refugee agency UNHCR, transported tons of relief items into the provinces of Khost and Paktika, where several thousand houses were destroyed or damaged by the 5.9 magnitude quake that struck early on Wednesday.
The latest tally from Thursday evening indicated that at least 1,036 people have been killed and more than 1,643 injured, in the worst earthquake to hit the country in two decades.
"At least 121 of these deaths were children and 67 of those injured were also children," said Mohamed Ayoya, Representative for the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) in Afghanistan. "The total number of people killed or injured is not yet confirmed. Verification is ongoing and we expect these numbers [to be] going up in the hours and days to come."
Critically needed items arriving from the capital, Kabul, include hundreds of tents, thousands of blankets, jerry cans, buckets, plastic sheets, kitchen sets and solar lamps - enough to help 4,200 survivors in Giyan, Bermal, Zerok, and Nika districts in Paktika province, and Spera district in Khost province.
To ensure distribution to the most needy, UNHCR has set up three supply hubs in Giyan, Bermal and Spera districts, so that humanitarian support can be shifted to communities affected by the earthquake. Heavy rains have also swept across the region in recent days, compounding the misery, UNHCR warned.
UNICEF has also dispatched life-saving supplies, including 500 first aid kits, along with treatment for acute watery diarrhoea to help prevent the spread of waterborne diseases.
"Much more support is urgently needed to avert a humanitarian disaster in the affected areas," said UNHCR spokesperson Shabia Mantoo, who noted that millions of people in the country face hunger and starvation, after four decades of conflict and instability.
"Already some 24 million Afghans are in need of humanitarian assistance due to the hunger and economic crisis, lack of development aid, and the impact of the changeover in government authorities 10 months ago," Ms. Mantoo told journalists in Geneva.
Across Afghanistan, some 3.5 million people have been displaced by conflict and violence, and another 1.57 million have had to leave their homes because of climate shocks.
© UNICEF/Sayed BidelA one-year-old girl rests in an emergency health clinic after being pulled from the rubble of her collapsed home, which was destroyed during the earthquake which struck Paktika Province, Afghanistan.
Get a daily dose of Northern Ireland News news through our daily email, its complimentary and keeps you fully up to date with world and business news as well.
Publish news of your business, community or sports group, personnel appointments, major event and more by submitting a news release to Northern Ireland News.
More InformationLONDON, England: Flybe, a British regional airline, abruptly closed operations on January 28. The airline offered flight to Belfast, Birmingham ...
LONDON, England: Of the 14 main battle tanks and additional artillery support it will send to Ukraine, Britain hopes its ...
The Group of Seven industrialized countries agreed Friday on a price cap for refined Russian oil exports.U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet ...
The Los Angeles Thieves won two elimination-bracket matches on Friday to stay alive in the Call of Duty League Major ...
Kurt Kitayama made two late birdies to slide into the lead at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am on Friday in Pebble ...
The United States moved to the brink of advancing out of its Davis Cup qualifying series by winning both singles ...
WASHINGTON D.C.: The Biden administration has stopped issuing export licenses to US companies seeking to ship most items to China's ...
Nearly a year in, the war in Ukraine has cost tens of thousands of lives and brought the world to ...
WASHINGTON D.C.: The US House of Representatives has passed a bill that limits the ability of US Energy Secretary Jennifer ...
BOSTON, Massachusetts: Russian businessman Vladislav Klyushin, who has ties to the Kremlin, has been accused of making tens of millions ...
TOKYO, Japan: In light of a tense security environment following Russia's invasion of Ukraine and Moscow's growing military cooperation with ...
DALLAS, Texas: Oil and gas pipeline operators are preparing to stockpile equipment following severe weather forecasts for the next few ...