The United Nations has issued an urgent call for additional resources to be dispatched to Afghanistan following a series of devastating earthquakes that have killed more than 1,400 people and injured thousands more, compounding an existing severe humanitarian crisis.
The initial quake, one of the deadliest in the country’s recent history, struck the eastern Nangahar province on Sunday. A subsequent tremor on Tuesday sparked further concerns of additional damage and destruction, hampering rescue efforts and deepening the despair in affected regions.
United Nations spokesperson Stefan Dujarric detailed the organization’s response, stating that Secretary-General António Guterres is “deeply saddened by the devastating loss of life.” Dujarric relayed that the Secretary-General expressed his solidarity with the Afghan people and extended his condolences to the families of the victims.
“The UN in Afghanistan will spare no efforts to assist people,” Dujarric stated, but he immediately noted a critical obstacle: “current humanitarian funding is insufficient to address the needs.” He called for “additional resources to be urgently dispatched to respond to the tragedy and crisis at hand.”
The earthquakes have severely damaged infrastructure, compromising access to clean water, restricting food supplies, and raising fears of a widespread disease outbreak. Dujarric confirmed that supplying humanitarian aid is the top priority, with immediate needs including emergency shelter, critical medical supplies, drinking water, and food assistance.
Local authorities have launched a significant response. The de facto authorities have flown hundreds of medical evacuation cases to regional hospitals and worked to clear blocked roads to allow aid to flow. Humanitarian partners are simultaneously seeking to mobilize additional air assets to reach the most isolated survivors. However, supplies are dwindling fast, with shelter materials and medical stocks reported to be running critically low.
On the ground, the scale of the devastation is overwhelming. Survivors are confronted with the immense grief of losing family members while also being rendered homeless.
“Here, people are in need of everything, especially medicine. Shelter is also needed. People have no place to stay,” said one affected resident.
Another survivor highlighted the unprecedented nature of the disaster: “Such an earthquake had never happened before… Our houses have been destroyed. Now if it rains, where will we sit? Where will the remaining people live? We have no place to stay at all.”
In a dramatic effort to save lives, Afghan commandos were airdropped into the hardest-hit areas to extract survivors trapped beneath the rubble of collapsed homes. Authorities have established camps to coordinate the distribution of supplies and emergency aid to the displaced and injured.
The international community faces increasing calls to release emergency funds to support the response and prevent a deeper catastrophe in a nation already grappling with profound humanitarian needs.
