UN says Afghan quake adds to emergencies in country

Starvation and human rights abuses also plague war-torn country

Afghan men assess the damage to a house destroyed by an earthquake in Gayan village, in Paktika province, Afghanistan. Reuters

An Afghan girl carries empty water containers in Gayan village after the quake. Reuters

A Taliban helicopter takes off after bringing aid to Gayan. Reuters

A Gayan villager carries a sack of food aid. Reuters

Afghan men receive bread in Gayan village. Reuters

Rescuers search for survivors amid the ruins of a house in Gayan village. Reuters

Afghans dig a common grave for their relatives killed by the earthquake in Gayan village. AP

Afghan children stand in front of a tent in Gayan village after the earthquake destroyed several homes. AP

A child walks amidst the ruins of damaged houses after an earthquake struck Bernal district in Paktika province. AFP

A child walks amid the debris of a house damaged by an earthquake in Bernal district. AFP

Rescue workers and local residents survey a damaged house after an earthquake hit the village of Gayan in Paktia province, Afghanistan. EPA

A resident surveys the damage. EPA

Ambulances and cars transport the injured to hospital. EPA

Afghans walk by a destroyed house in the village of Gyan. AP

An Afghan child is treated in hospital. AFP

Afghan people queue up to donate blood to earthquake victims. AFP

Houses have been reduced to rubble. AFP

An Afghan girl stands near a house damaged by the earthquake. AP

An Afghan man sits near what's left of his house. AP

Injured children rest inside a hospital in the city of Sharan. AFP

Afghan boys site near their damaged house that was destroyed in an earthquake in the Spera District of the southwestern part of Khost Province, Afghanistan. AP

An Afghan villager sits near his damaged house that was destroyed in an earthquake in the Spera District of the southwestern part of Khost Province, Afghanistan. AP

An Afghan villager collects his belongings from under the rubble of his home that was destroyed in an earthquake in the Spera District of the southwestern part of Khost Province, Afghanistan. AP

A government helicopter evacuates injured people in Gayan district. AP

Dwellings in many rural areas of Afghanistan are unstable or poorly built, increasing the damage caused by earthquakes. Bakhtar News Agency

Many houses were destroyed in Paktika.

The body of a child is recovered following the quake, which was also felt in Pakistan and India.

The devastating earthquake this week in Afghanistan is one more emergency facing the country, which is also confronting its worst drought in 30 years, and widespread poverty.

Afghanistan also has the highest number of people in the world facing the risk of famine, and there are increasing human rights breaches by the country’s new Taliban rulers, senior UN officials said on Thursday.

The grim picture for Afghanistan’s 38 million people was presented by UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths and the UN deputy special representative for Afghanistan, Ramiz Alakbarov.

They spoke during a Security Council meeting on the situation in Afghanistan, which was scheduled before Wednesday’s powerful quake in the east that Afghan state media said killed 1,000 people.

Hundreds more have been injured and officials have warned the casualty figures could rise as Afghans were still digging through the rubble to retrieve more bodies on Thursday.

Mr Griffiths said in a video briefing that “dramatic shifts in Afghanistan’s political and economic landscape” since the Taliban seized power last August “have brought unrelenting human suffering to the country’s people".

“Afghanistan’s worst drought in almost 30 years has affected three-quarters of its provinces, meaning crop production is expected to be below average this harvest,” he said.

Mr Griffiths said 25 million people, or two thirds of the population, live in poverty, more than double the number in 2011, including 6.6 million at “emergency” levels.

“That’s the highest number of any country in the world at risk of famine-like conditions,” he said.

Mr Alakbarov, the top UN official in Afghanistan, plans to visit quake-hit areas on Friday.

He said in a video briefing from Kabul that the quake “was yet another tragic reminder of the myriad dangers facing the Afghan people".

Mr Alakbarov said the security environment “is becoming increasingly unpredictable” with the emergence of armed opposition groups to the Taliban, “in large part due to political exclusion”, leading to clashes, especially in Panjshir and Baghlan provinces.

“Armed opposition attacks against de facto authorities doubled in May, compared to April,” he said.

Mr Alakbarov said Afghan families were grateful for humanitarian aid but they wanted jobs, a chance to look to the future and safety, which also means freedom of movement for women and men.

Mr Griffiths called the humanitarian response in the country “complex and difficult,” saying the formal banking system continues to block financial transfers, with about 80 per cent of aid organisations facing delays in transferring funds.

A second “impediment,” he said, was that the Taliban across the country increasingly seek “to play a role in the selection of beneficiaries and channelling assistance to people on their own priority lists".

Aid organisations struggle to hire women, Mr Griffiths said, and “there are more instances of interference today than in previous months.”

The UN also faces “a 66 per cent funding gap — a staggering, nearly $3 billion funding shortfall for the last six months of 2022", he said.

“Early funding and early action will be critical to avert a catastrophe this winter,” Mr Griffiths said.