Support Victims of Earthquake in Afghanistan

On morning of June 22, an earthquake with a magnitude of 5.9 struck Afghanistan’s Paktika and Khost provinces.  This disaster was recorded at a depth of about 6 miles and was felt in neighboring countries Pakistan and India.

Gayan district in Paktika province was amongst the most affected areas.  With a total of  1,000 deaths reported by the MoPH, the United Nations has estimated that at least 770 people have been killed and more than 1,400 others have been injured.

Around 60% of homes (which were mainly from mad and clay) were damaged. The number of casualties was expected to rise as search-and-rescue operations continued in the rural and farm most locations.

In such situation the priority needs includes trauma care, emergency shelter, non-food items (NFIs), food assistance, mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) services and water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) support. The WHO warned that possibility of Cholera outbreaks could be a concern. The earthquake will only compound an already complex and increasingly severe humanitarian crisis.

Through a partnership with a local organization, AfD was able to reach out to the affected communities and do an assessment of the situation. AfD mobilized its staff and resources working through its partner – on the ground agency.

AfD organized a mobile health team to provide services in two villages of Gayan province. Our team provided services to nearly 180 patients distributing essential medicine as a respond to their health problems. Majority of treated patients were children under the age of five years. As the season of cold and winter was approaching many showed respiratory diseases, which included pneumonia, bronchiotis upper respiratory tract infection and common cold.

AfD also distributed 100 double sized duvets to the communities to enable them to cope with the upcoming winter cold. To support WASH and hygiene AfD team provided promotional leaflets and awareness raising.