Afghanistan quake: Rescuers arrive on foot, survivors need everything

This article is published in association with United Nations.

A massive assistance mission for earthquake survivors continued in Afghanistan on Wednesday as aid teams tackled blocked roads and downed communications lines in a bid to reach the most remote communities still in need of help.

Latest updates from UN assessment teams who reached affected communities in mountainous Ghazi Abad district on foot on Tuesday underscored the urgent need to press on with the humanitarian response.

“The issue of getting people out from under the rubble is urgent,” said Salam Al-Jabani from the UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF, in Kabul. “People are saying what is urgently needed is people to help us bury the dead and get them out.”

Preliminary reports from Afghanistan’s de facto authorities now indicate that at least 1,400 people were killed and more than 3,100 injured when a magnitude six earthquake struck northeastern regions late on Sunday.

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Casualty figures are expected to rise further as search and rescue teams reach affected areas, but some remote communities have yet to be reached. Access problems are the result of rockfalls and landslides triggered by the earthquake and heavy rains in the days before the disaster.

“Our teams had to leave their cars and walk two hours to get to Ghazi Abad,” explainedMr. Al-Jabani. “Other villages are six to seven hours’ walk away and still not reached…not even by the local authorities’ helicopters. 

Communications are also patchy or non-existent: “There is one cell tower near a health centre, otherwise it is dark,” Mr. Al-Jabani continued.

International response

As part of the international response, the UN has dispatched at least 25 assessment teams to the affected region and boosted humanitarian air service flights from Kabul.

For its part, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, is deploying prepositioned essential relief items from stockpiles in Kabul, including tents, blankets and solar lamps.

Immediate priority needs include emergency shelter, medical supplies, drinking water and emergency food assistance.

But “getting medicines in is very hard…They are bringing essentials only on foot” from the nearest UNICEF-supported hospital, Mr. Al-Jabani noted.

Health care provision remains fragile, with medical staff at one damaged centre in Ghazi Abad with clearly visible cracks in the walls now treating people “outside, under trees”, as they are too afraid to stay inside, he added.

It is understood that thousands of local community members are now surging into the area to help the search and rescue effort, bringing with them water and food. “People in their thousands are moving in and out of the area,” the UNICEF official noted.

Funding shortfall crisis

While the immediate focus is on finding and helping survivors, funding shortages for humanitarian work in Afghanistan and beyond have fuelled concerns that lifesaving relief work may soon be curtailed.

“[The UN World Food Programme (WFP)] can only afford to feed earthquake victims for a few more weeks before funding runs out; this is not long enough to cater to their immediate needs nor to put them on a path to rebuilding their lives,” said the agency’s top official in Kabul, John Aylieff.

“We need donors to step in urgently and help us support families which have been devastated by this tragedy.”

Of the $2.4 billion in funding required to support aid and development programmes in Afghanistan this year, only $685.8 million has been provided by donors, according to the UN aid coordination office, OCHA.

Exhausted rescue workers

Many Afghan women are among the first responders “working up to 18 hours a day, travelling on foot to speak directly with women and girls”, UN Women said.

“It’s exhausting work – and it’s impossible for them to reach everyone who needs help,” explained UN Women Afghanistan Special Representative, Susan Ferguson.

The UN agency is already working in quake-affected areas with partners to assess immediate needs and prioritize emergency cash assistance and the distribution of essential items including tarpaulins, soap and feminine hygiene products.

“In a context like Afghanistan, it is essential that women are delivering assistance to women and girls,” Ms. Ferguson noted, adding that in the 2023 Herat earthquake, nearly six out of 10 people killed were women, and nearly two in three of those injured were women. 

“Cultural restrictions can make it harder for women to access support and services – as we have seen with the Afghan women returnees from Iran and Pakistan,” the UN Women official stressed. “Women humanitarians are vital to overcome these barriers. Without them, too many women and girls will miss out on lifesaving assistance.”