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EU provides 500,000 euros for Afghan earthquake relief efforts
The European Union has contributed 500,000 euros to support the food needs of communities in the Afghan provinces of Paktika and Khost which were affected by an earthquake in late June, The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) said on Thursday.
The funds will help WFP deliver emergency food assistance to more than 170,000 earthquake-affected people over six months
“The majority of the people of Afghanistan are reeling from the effects of the ongoing economic crisis and cannot absorb any exacerbating shocks, including the earthquake that has hit these provinces,” said Marianna Franco, who oversees EU humanitarian programmes in Afghanistan. “We are stepping up our support to ensure WFP has dedicated funding for this environmental disaster that comes as an emergency on top of an emergency.”
The 5.9 magnitude earthquake that struck eastern Afghanistan on 22 June 2022 – the strongest the country has known in over 20 years – further devastated families already struggling to meet their basic needs during a time of acute economic and political upheaval. More than two months later, families are still living in emergency shelters as their destroyed homes are structurally unsafe, and communities still rely largely on humanitarian assistance for survival, WFP said.
“WFP was on the ground immediately to assess the damage and respond,” said WFP Afghanistan’s Country Director Mary-Ellen McGroarty. “Through heavy rain and winds and poor internet connectivity, WFP and our partners have been working to reach those affected with food and supplies, but the communities in these provinces will need our support for several months as they rebuild. We are thankful to the EU for being one of the first donors to contribute towards this urgent need, which enabled our swift deployment of food and logistics equipment.”
The new funding will help boost WFP’s ability to replenish its food supplies over several months and to transition from distributing emergency High-Energy Biscuits (HEB) to full food baskets of wheat flour, vegetable oil, pulses and salt in the districts of Giyan and Bamal in Paktika Province, and Spera in Khost Province.
One year into an economic collapse, humanitarian needs in Afghanistan are at an all-time high, further strained by soaring global food and energy prices due to the conflict in Ukraine. Hunger is cutting across socioeconomic divides, with 18.9 million people experiencing acute levels of food insecurity and 6 million one step away from famine, WFP noted.
The EU’s Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid department has been a long-time donor for WFP Afghanistan, having contributed over EUR 75.5 million since 2021 towards WFP’s emergency assistance to people affected by conflict and natural hazards in the country.
Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) officials have once again called on the United Nations to remove the names of IEA members who are on the UN blacklist, and said the international community should engage with the group instead of putting pressure on it.
The UN Security Council failed to reach an agreement to extend travel exemptions, allowing 13 Islamic Emirate officials to travel abroad, which expired in August 2021.
“Some 20 to 25 Islamic Emirate officials are on the UN blacklist and have been sanctioned. Some of them have died, and a few are working with the caretaker government,” said Zabihullah Mujahid, the IEA’s spokesman.
According to Mujahid, adding pressure and force will not bear results. The war of the past 20 years has proven that the people of Afghanistan will not surrender to pressure. Instead, engagement and negotiations are ideal options to reach a comprehensive conclusion, he added.
In addition, inclusion of the Islamic Emirate officials on the UN blacklist violates the Doha Agreement, Mujahid said.
The Doha Agreement is a peace deal between the US and the IEA aimed at restoring peace in Afghanistan. The agreement was signed in Doha in 2020, finalizing the US withdrawal from Afghanistan contingent on IEA security assurance that Afghan soil will not be used against the US by al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups.
The Embassy of Japan in Afghanistan on Monday announced that Japan has contributed $21 million for life-saving vaccines for mothers and children, and water and sanitation facilities in schools.
With this funding, UNICEF will provide clean water for 30,000 people in four provinces, and vaccines for 18.3 million mothers and children across Afghanistan.
Amid the devastating humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, the government of Japan has donated to UNICEF $18 million in support of essential vaccines for over 18 million mothers and children, and $3.6 million for water and sanitation facilities in public schools.
The vaccines are for measles, rotavirus, tetanus and diphtheria, polio, hepatitis B and others. These funds will also enable UNICEF to reach around 10 million children with oral polio vaccines during national vaccination campaigns in 2023.
“This support from the Japanese government will not only help to give mothers and children the immunity boost they need to stay healthy, but it will also improve sanitation and hygiene in schools,” said Rushnan Murtaza, UNICEF Afghanistan Deputy Representative.
“Complementing our past support to Afghanistan in health, nutrition and education, we hope these contributions will create cleaner, safer learning environments and communities for children and their families,” says Takashi Okada, Ambassador of Japan to Afghanistan.
Water and sanitation projects will be implemented in Ghor, Uruzgan, Zabul and Pakitika which are among the most deprived provinces in Afghanistan, according to UNICEF officials.
At least six civilians were killed and several others, including three Islamic Emirate forces, were wounded in a suicide bombing near a security checkpoint in Malik Azghar Square in Kabul, a spokesman for the Kabul security department, Khalid Zadran said.
The Emergency NGO hospital in Kabul meanwhile said on Twitter that it received 12 injured people, including a child from the blast that happened near the Foreign Ministry on Monday afternoon.
The hospital said soon after the explosion that two bodies had also been taken to the hospital.
So far, no group or individual has claimed responsibility for the attack.
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