UN allocates $10m for Afghanistan quake victims

KABUL (Pajhwok): The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has allocated $10 million to assist victims of the devastating earthquake in eastern Afghanistan.

The earthquake struck just before midnight on Sunday, affecting the provinces of Kunar, Laghman, Nangarhar, Nuristan and Panjsher— with Kunar experiencing the heaviest casualties and destruction.

On Thursday, Hamidullah Fitrat, deputy spokesman for the Islamic Emirate, reported that the death toll in Kunar province had risen to 2,205, with 3,640 others injured. Rescue operations are still ongoing.

At a press conference, Stéphane Dujarric quoted UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher as saying that just hours after the quake, OCHA’s pooled funds allocated $10 million to launch relief efforts.

“Fletcher warned that this amount is not enough, stressing that unless more resources are mobilised now, suffering will increase and more lives will be lost,” Dujarric added.

He also noted that the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) had delivered $4.5 million worth of emergency supplies to Kunar and Nangarhar provinces. These included tents, blankets, water containers, gas stoves, solar lights and tarpaulins—sufficient to assist 5,600 families.

The UNHCR’s stock in Afghanistan was running low, as the agency has also been supporting Afghans recently returned or forcibly deported from neighboring countries, particularly Iran and Pakistan.

kk/sa