After Afghanistan quakes, women and children need urgent aid

The nights are getting colder in Afghanistan, increasing the risk of contagious diseases in the crowded tent camps where people are urgently awaiting humanitarian aid.

More than 154,000 people were affected by a series of earthquakes that devastated the western Herat province in early October, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Local media have reported that more than 2,000 people were killed and thousands injured.

"The injured, including many women and children, are in dire need of medical assistance," volunteer worker Niloufar Nikseyar told DW. A former lecturer at Herat University, she has been supporting local aid groups since the earthquakes.

"I was in three small villages today where many houses were completely destroyed. The first relief supplies such as flour and water have finally arrived there. The women have to bake bread and provide for their families with the limited resources they have. There is a shortage of everything here, especially powdered baby formula, cough syrup and sanitary pads," she added.

International aid groups warn that situation is deteriorating

Initial assessments by the World Health Organization have found that more than 40 health care facilities in the region were damaged by the quakes. Others remain at acute risk of collapse, complicating patient care.

More than 114,000 people in Afghanistan are now in need of emergency medical assistance, according to the WHO. Among them are about 7,500 pregnant women, many of whom lost family members in the disaster.

"Many of them were at home when the earth shook, while the men were outside working on farms or tending to livestock," Lina Haidari, a teacher and activist who has been helping local women affected by earthquakes, told DW.

The United Nations has reported that more than 90% of the victims of the earthquakes were women and children. Haidari stressed that many of the injured have also been severely traumatized and now live in fear of aftershocks.

International aid organizations such as the United Nations Children's Fund have warned that the situation is deteriorating, especially as winter approaches.

"We urgently appeal for additional funding to aid 96,000 children affected by the recent earthquakes in western Afghanistan," Fran Equiza, UNICEF's representative in Afghanistan, said in a statement last week, reporting that it had already delivered more than 80 tons of relief supplies to Kabul for distribution in the affected region.

Can the ruling Taliban handle the crisis?

The ruling Taliban have set up a commission to distribute aid fairly among those affected. This commission is responsible for preventing corruption and ensuring that everyone receives the aid they need, spokesperson and senior member of the Taliban, Zabiullah Mujahid, told DW.

But many activists inside and outside Afghanistan have doubts about the ability of the Islamic fundamentalist nationalist movement to handle this crisis. Afghans outside the country are desperate to support their relatives and friends, but finding the right channels to do so has been difficult.

"It is necessary that we find ways to help people on the ground," Afghan journalist Zahra Joya told DW. She lives in London and is editor-in-chief and founder of Rukhshana Media, a news agency that reports on the lives of women and girls in Afghanistan. "Women and children in particular need our support now. We are trying to form support groups on the ground and organize help for them."

Transferring money directly is not possible, she said. Since the Taliban took power in August 2021, the economic situation has deteriorated dramatically. Not only has the United States imposed economic sanctions on the Taliban because of human rights abuses, but the country has also been excluded from the SWIFT international financial transaction system.

Previously, people had used exchange offices to deposit cash that would then be paid out by a business partner in Afghanistan — an unofficial workaround that required a telephone connection and mutual trust. But activists told DW that this now no longer works.

"In Afghanistan, cash has become scarce. But even with cash, many things can no longer be bought, such as powdered baby formula," one source said. Leaving many with few options but to rely on the Taliban for aid.

This article was originally written in German.