UK provides £2.5m support for quake-hit Afghans

KABUL (Pajhwok): The United Kingdom has announced £2.5 million to help the Afghan people with immediate life-saving support.

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss pledged on Friday the UK would provide £2.5 million Afghans affected by the devastating earthquake this week.

Disaster management officials say 1,000 people were killed and more than 1,400 others injured in Wednesday’s disaster in the southeast of the country.

An amount of £2 million will go to the International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC) to provide shelter, medication, water, sanitation and other basic needs.

The IFRC already has staff and volunteers working on the ground to deal with the crisis and help address the urgent humanitarian needs – including in Khost and Paktika.

The remaining £500,000 would go to the Norwegian Refugee Council, which is also already working on the ground to provide shelter and cash assistance to those affected.

The support will come from the UK’s aid fund for Afghanistan, which is £286 million this financial year, one of the largest bilateral programmes.

International partners, including the United Nations and World Food Programme, are coordinating the global response and rapidly assessing the humanitarian needs

The UK is in direct contact with them to offer assistance and stands ready to consider any requests for aid or other help.

In a statement, Liz Truss called the earthquake a tragedy for the people of Afghanistan.

The scale of need was already severe before the quake struck, with more than half of the population needing humanitarian aid.

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