Information correspondents in New York via the video link, Shannon O’hara spoke of Jalalabad on the conditions in Afghanistan only a few days after the earthquake of magnitude 6 and its devastating replicas.
“We have seen families whose life had been broken just in a few minutes”, the head of the strategy for Ochha in Afghanistan said.
Left with nothing
“The earthquake had destroyed their houses, their farms and their livelihoods, leaving them absolutely nothing.”
The OCHA has managed to reach 49 damaged villages in the Nangarhar, Kunar and the provinces affected nearby in eastern Afghanistan.
While humanitarian workers find it difficult to reach more regions, current reports Show that nearly 40,000 people were affected by the earthquake, while more than 5,000 houses were destroyed.
Humanitarian workers face challenges
“Even before the earthquake, these villages were difficult to reach,” said Ms. O’Hara. “Now, with the earthquake, you need extraordinary efforts to get there. »»
A narrow one -way road on the side of the mountain which was “blocked by large rocks of landslides and many vehicles trying to go up and down the valley” is the only way to go to the affected areas of Jalalabad, said Ms. O’Hara.
A 100 -kilometer journey took Ms. O’Hara and her team for more than six and a half hours. To reach the victims, the first response teams must drive – and often move for hours on foot.
‘The heaviest burden’
Emergency speakers favor help for women, children and disabled residents.
“In Afghanistan, in recent years, women and girls have been pushed to the very margins of society and survival,” said Ms. O’Hara. “We know with previous earthquakes and other crises that women and girls always wear the heaviest burden.”
An estimate of the UN reproductive health agency, Unfpashows that 11,600 pregnant women were affected by destruction – in a country that already has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the region.
The OCHA endeavors to ensure that “that women are represented in health teams and that more assistants support distribution, as well as nutrition, psychosocial and other services,” said Ms. O’Hara.
Alarming potential for the disease epidemic
The natural disaster led families to live without clean water and sanitation in tents or “under an open sky, exposed to rain and cold,” said Ms. O’Hara.
“With endemic cholera in the region and the initial assessments indicating that 92% of these communities practice free-being defecation, the potential of a cholera epidemic is alarming,” she continued.
While United Nations agencies distribute meals and sanitation kits, efforts must be put on the scale.
“The affected communities are struggling with basic survival,” she said.
Urgent action required
So far, 43,000 victims have received ready to eat meals and United Nations agencies also provide tents, covers and sanitation kits to help families. But humanitarian efforts are likely to be disrupted if the heavy rains flood the sites of PDIs or if the potential aftershocks bring more landslides. The snow of the approaching winter season should also block vital roads.
“If we do not act now, these communities may not survive the coming winter,” said Ms. O’Hara. “Additional funding is urgent. »»
OCHA has already published $ 10 million for vital supplies and an emergency intervention plan is currently being finalized.
“Without immediate support, the coming weeks risk this tragedy with epidemics of avoidable diseases, additional trips and additional lifestyles.”
Food aid is delivered to people affected by the earthquake in eastern Afghanistan.
Fresh Supplies Terre in Kabul
A new dispatch of more than 35 metric tonnes of vital medical supplies landed in Kabul Monday, to improve the World Health Organization (WHO) Emergency response.
Which has now preposed and delivered nearly 80 metric tonnes of emergency health supplies to the country since the disaster.
The newly arrived cargo, mobilized through the WHO Logistics Center in Dubai, includes surgery kits in trauma and in the event of an emergency, primary health care kits, non -transmitted disease kits and essential drugs.
These supplies will be dispatched to health establishments and mobile health teams in the hardest affected areas, following the evaluations under way of needs.
Originally published at Almouwatin.com
