A Cordaid Emergency Response team is reaching out to earthquake survivors in Paktika province, Afghanistan. We provide tents and blankets and will assist communities with rebuilding their livelihoods. “We are committed to providing aid to families in this hard-to-reach area”, says Marco Savio, Cordaid Country Director Afghanistan.
On June 22, a 5.9 magnitude earthquake struck hit Khost and Paktika provinces in crisis-riddled Afghanistan. Aftershocks occurred on June 24. The impact has been devastating. So far, according to local media reports, the earthquake killed over one thousand people. It injured more than 2000 persons and directly affected the lives of hundreds of thousands of Afghans. They are in urgent need of medical attention, food, medicines, and shelter.
“It was crucial to get there as fast as we could, especially given the fact that communication lines with the isolated crisis area are down.”
Barmal and Gyan Districts are among the most affected areas. Currently, there is no ongoing armed conflict, but the remoteness of this mountainous terrain makes it hard to reach families in need.
Emergency Response Team on the ground
Soon after the earthquake, shockwaves of which could even be felt in Kabul, Cordaid deployed an emergency response team to Gyan District in Paktika province to assess needs and provide humanitarian assistance. “It was crucial to get there as fast as we could”, explains Savio, “especially given the fact that communication lines with the isolated crisis area are down. Communities affected by the earthquake are very poor. They live scattered in hard-to-reach valleys and mountains and have received very limited support over the past years.”
On the ground, Cordaid is coordinating with other humanitarian actors and clusters. A first outcome is that Cordaid focuses on the provision of tents and blankets. We are contributing 200.000 € of our own funds for disaster relief activities, alongside the funding pledged by other partners.
This funding allows Cordaid to provide 300 impacted households with a tent and five emergency blankets over the next few days. It will also be used to address other humanitarian needs of the affected people in the near future.
Call for support and solidarity
Caritas Internationalis is calling on the international community to support Cordaid’s response. In the Netherlands, Cordaid launched a fundraising campaign to support victims of the earthquake in Afghanistan.