Pakistan and Qatar cargo planes carrying relief supplies for Afghan earthquake survivors have landed at Khost airport, officials said on Saturday as rescuers struggle to deliver aid to remote regions in the wake of Wednesday’s devastating earthquake .
Thousands have been left homeless or injured by the magnitude 5.9 earthquake in Paktika and Khost provinces, which state media said killed 1,150 people. A retort on Friday claimed five more lives.
The representative of the United Nations Children’s Agency in Afghanistan said there were 121 children among the dead and that figure was expected to increase.
Authorities have now finished searching for survivors of the quake that also injured nearly 2,000 people in what is considered the deadliest disaster in nearly two decades.
People in Paktika province have been desperate for food, shelter and drinking water as humanitarian aid slowed due to poor infrastructure and diplomatic and financial isolation from the Taliban-led Afghan government.
Survivor Dawlat Khan in Gayan district in Paktika province said five members of his family were injured and their home was destroyed by the quake.
Afghan men gather to collect relief supplies in Gayan, Afghanistan [Reuters]
“We are facing a lot of problems. We need all kinds of support and we ask the international community and Afghans to be able to help us introduce ourselves and help us, ”he said.
Mansoor Ahmad Khan, Pakistan’s ambassador to the Afghan capital Kabul, said relief products sent by Pakistan on Saturday were delivered to Taliban officials.
“It was our duty to help our Afghan brothers in this difficult time,” he said.
It calls for the thawing of Afghan assets
Exaggerated aid agencies said the disaster underscored the need for the international community to rethink its financial cut in Afghanistan since the Taliban seized the country 10 months ago, when U.S.-led forces retire after 20 years of war and occupation.
This policy, stopping billions in development aid and freezing vital reserves, has pushed the economy dependent on aid to collapse and plunged Afghanistan deeper into humanitarian crises and near-famine. Nearly 75 percent of the Afghan economy received foreign aid support before the Taliban took power.
There has been a call in the United States to release Afghan frozen assets and waive sanctions to allow financial transactions.
Washington holds about $ 7 billion in Afghan reserves. The Joe Biden administration decided to split the money among the victims of the 9/11 attacks in 2001 and return only half of the total reserves to Kabul, a measure dubbed “theft.”
Becky Roby, the defense manager of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) in Afghanistan, previously told Al Jazeera that the banking challenges posed by US sections were complicating the humanitarian response.
A view shows a damaged mosque after the recent earthquake in the village of Wor Kali in Barmal district in Paktika province [Ali Khara/Reuters]
The U.S. State Department said Washington “is on the side of the people of Afghanistan and will continue to lead the international community in responding to their humanitarian needs.”
Afghanistan was already facing a serious humanitarian situation due to a war that lasted for decades.
While the Taliban have announced a $ 1 billion ($ 11 million) aid package for the victims, Afghan officials have called for contributions from other nations and international partners.
Abdul Qahar Balkhi, a spokesman for the Afghan Foreign Ministry, said the Taliban’s interim administration “once again urges the United States to lift sanctions on the Afghan banking system to speed up the process of delivering humanitarian aid.” and make it easier. “
“And in the same way, that Afghan bank reserves are thawed,” he said, pointing to the $ 7 billion frozen external reserves.
Hua Chunying, a spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, tweeted on Friday: “I saw US officials claim that the US” is on the side of the people of Afghanistan. “So why not return the 7 billion. dollars to Afghans?
Beijing will provide $ 7.5 million (50 million yuan) in humanitarian aid to Afghanistan. The aid will include tents, towels, beds and other materials, the foreign ministry said in a statement on its website on Saturday.
An outbreak of cholera is feared
Roads rocked through the mountains, already slow to circulate, were made worse by the damage from the earthquake and rain. The International Red Cross has five hospitals in the region, but road damage made it difficult for people in the hardest-hit areas to access, said Lucien Christen, an ICRC spokesman in Afghanistan.
Also on Saturday, an Afghan military helicopter carried food and other basic necessities to the people of Gayan. Dozens of men and children gathered in an open area under the hot sun to wait for food, water and tents from the Afghan Red Crescent.
The aid organization said it would distribute relief items to about 1,000 families in the district, including food, shops and clothing.
Humanitarian aid planned for Khost is loaded on a plane at Al Udeid air base in Qatar [Imad Creidi/Reuters]
In Urgan, the main city in Paktika province, medical supplies from the UN World Health Organization were unloaded at the main hospital. UNICEF provided blankets, basic supplies and tarpaulins to the people affected by the earthquake for the homeless to use as tents.
Aid groups said they feared cholera could erupt after damage to water and hygiene systems.
On Saturday, in Spera district, Khost province, UNICEF distributed water purification tablets along with soap and other hygiene materials.
Since the Taliban’s return to power last August, Islamabad has led the way in pressuring the world to commit to the Taliban-led Afghan government, which has not yet been recognized by any country in the world.
Earlier, the government of Pakistan and a Pakistani charity had sent 13 trucks with food, tents, life-saving medicines and other essential items to Afghanistan.
A 19-member team from Pakistan, made up of doctors and paramedics, has been assisting the Taliban-led Afghan government in Khost, providing medical treatment to the earthquake-injured.
Officials said on Saturday that Pakistan has opened its border in the northwest to transport seriously injured Afghans to hospitals in Pakistan. But it was unclear how many Afghans have arrived in northwestern Pakistan from the quake-hit areas to receive medical treatment.
The Prime Minister of Pakistan, Shehbaz Sharif, also spoke with the incumbent Afghan Prime Minister, the mullah Mohammad Hasan Akhund, and assured him of continued support from Islamabad.
Qatar, Iran, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and India have sent emergency aid to the country, while Taiwan has pledged to give $ 1 million to earthquake victims.