Kabul: In response to the magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck eastern Afghanistan on June 22, the United States, through the U.S. Agency for International Development, is providing nearly $55 million in immediate humanitarian assistance to meet urgent needs of people affected. To date, approximately 770 deaths and nearly 1,500 injuries have been reported. The impacts of this disaster compound the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan.
Within hours of the earthquake, USAID partners began responding, immediately providing humanitarian assistance including medical care. This additional assistance includes support for USAID partner the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to continue to reach earthquake-affected people with urgently needed shelter materials, water, sanitation, and hygiene supplies, and other relief items. These vital supplies include emergency shelter kits, cooking pots, jerry cans for water collection and storage, blankets, solar lamps, clothing, and other household items. In addition, this support will provide hygiene kits, menstrual hygiene supplies, and water treatment kits. Given that the area impacted by the earthquake was already experiencing an acute watery diarrhea outbreak, this relief will help mitigate a larger waterborne disease outbreak in the aftermath of this disaster, when there is greater risk given the lack of access to safe water. A portion of this new assistance will also address Afghanistan’s ongoing humanitarian crisis in other parts of the country.
The United States is the single largest humanitarian donor in Afghanistan, providing more than $774 million in humanitarian assistance in Afghanistan and for Afghans in the region since mid-August, including more than $573 million from USAID. USAID’s Disaster Assistance Response Team, based in the region to lead the humanitarian response in Afghanistan, continues to coordinate the U.S. response to the earthquake, and is supporting U.S. partners to ensure aid is reaching the most vulnerable. We will continue to stand with the Afghan people to respond to humanitarian needs.
