43,000 people directly affected by earthquakes

KABUL (Agencies): More than 43,000 people have been directly affected by the recent earthquakes across Afghanistan’s western province of Herat, the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said. OCHA said in its update that Injil district is the worst-affected district, accounting for 53 percent of people affected.

In total, about 1,500 people have died, and a further 2,000 injured, according to the report. Daniel Peter Endres, acting UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Afghanistan, described the situation there as “a race against time” for aid organisations to deliver assistance before the onset of winter.

“These earthquakes have struck some of the most vulnerable communities in Afghanistan, they have already been grappling with decades of conflicts and under development,” he said.

“The affected communities have little resilience to cope with the multiple and simultaneous shocks, and especially with the cold winter coming, when households have limited food resources and are most constrained in capacity.” Nightly temperatures have dipped considerably, he said, noting that many whose homes were damaged are sleeping outside, afraid their dwellings might collapse completely.