The United States Agency for International Development, or USAID, has announced $12 million in immediate humanitarian aid to assist victims of a week of repeated deadly earthquakes in western Afghanistan.
In a statement released on Thursday, the USAID said the funding would support its partner agencies to reach earthquake-affected Afghans with urgently needed supplies, including emergency shelter kits, cooking and water collection materials, blankets, solar lamps, clothing, and other household items.
The Taliban government and the United Nations say more than 1,000 people — mostly women and children — have died and many more injured since the first 6.3 magnitude quake struck Herat and surrounding areas on Saturday.
"We mourn the loss of life from these earthquakes and stand resolutely with the people of Afghanistan as they recover from these crises," Tom West, the U.S. special representative for Afghanistan, said in a post on social media site X, sharing details of the USAID aid.
The United States is Afghanistan's single largest humanitarian donor, providing nearly $2 billion in humanitarian assistance for Afghans since mid-August 2021 when the Taliban seized power and all U.S.-led international troops withdrew, ending after almost 20 years of presence there.
Meanwhile, the Afghan Red Crescent reported Friday that it had halted all humanitarian services in the quake-hit areas in Herat due to a “severe storm” that began overnight. The aid group said on X that the camp it had set up for rescue, sanitation, and shelter purposes had been demolished, prompting it to relocate 256 families to safety.
“Unfortunately, some Afghan Red Crescent employees were injured while rescuing individuals impacted by the heavy windstorm and have been shifted to the hospital for medical treatment,” the agency said.
Taliban officials say Afghanistan's immediate neighbors and regional countries, including China, Iran, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia, have already dispatched urgent relief aid and pledged cash donations to assist the Taliban in carrying out relief work. The disaster zone is located close to the country's border with Iran.
However, the Taliban have refused to accept aid from their long-time supporter Pakistan over what they say was an "irresponsible" social media post by the neighboring country's leadership.
Pakistani Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar said on X earlier in the week that his country was immediately dispatching a "medical team, field hospital, 50 tents, and 500 blankets" to Herat at the request of the Taliban government. The details were minuscule compared to the massive package the National Disaster Management Authority announced. Moreover, the Taliban have, to date, yet to formally ask foreign nations to send relief goods.
A Taliban official confirmed to VOA on Thursday for the first time that Kakar's "irresponsible" and "humiliating" tweet forced them to block the arrival of Pakistani relief package in the country as their detractors were already using it to criticize the Kabul administration. "Although no such request was made and our government was ridiculed for it,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
Neither Pakistani nor Afghan officials have officially discussed the reasons for the delay in sending the aid to Herat, nor has Kakar removed his post.
China's state media reported Thursday that it is transporting more than $4 million worth of emergency humanitarian aid to assist the victims of the relentless Afghan quakes. The aid supplies reportedly include tents, rollaway beds, thick blankets, down and cotton-padded jackets, quilts, and family first-aid kits.
The U.N. Children's Fund, or UNICEF, launched a $20 million appeal Thursday to support children affected by the devastating earthquakes.
"Over the next three months, life-saving humanitarian assistance will reach over 200,000 people – including 96,000 children – living in the most devastated and vulnerable areas of Herat province,” the agency said in a statement.
UNICEF noted that more than 90% of those reported killed were women and children. It added that at least 11,500 people saw their homes completely flattened in Zinda Jan alone, naming a Herat district close to the epicenter of the first earthquake,
The World Health Organization has reported damage to 21 health facilities in 10 districts, with half of the damage caused by the latest tremors on October 11.
The calamity has compounded an already dire humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan blamed on years of war and prolonged drought. Aid workers say hospitals across the country are severely underequipped and underfunded. They say the Taliban's decision to ban Afghan women from working for aid groups has compounded the crisis.
"Even before the earthquake, these communities were already suffering the effects of conflict and insecurity, migration, drought, displacement, and poverty," said Rushnan Murtaza, the acting UNICEF representative in Afghanistan.
