The slow response, exacerbated by international sanctions and decades of mismanagement, worries people working in the humanitarian space, such as Obaidullah Baheer, a professor of Transitional Justice at the American University of Afghanistan. “This is a very complicated solution to a problem that we have to start thinking about (about) in the medium and long term … what do we do when (another disaster) comes?” he told CNN over the phone.
The 5.9-magnitude quake struck early Wednesday near the city of Khost, on the border with Pakistan, and is expected to increase the death toll, as many homes in the area they were made of wood, clay, and other materials vulnerable to damage. .
Humanitarian agencies are converging on the area, but it may be days before aid reaches the affected regions, which are among the most remote in the country.
Teams deployed by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) have not yet arrived, according to Anita Dullard, ICRC spokeswoman in Asia Pacific. Shelley Thakral, a spokeswoman for the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) in Kabul, said efforts to get help to the affected areas are slowing by the state of the roads.
“The challenges we face, in the first place, are geographical, logistical challenges because the area is very remote, rural and mountainous. Yesterday we had rained a lot here and the combination of rain and earthquake has caused landslides in some areas, making it difficult for roads to cross, ”UNICEF chief of communications to Afghanistan Sam Mort told CNN from Kabul.
The quake coincided with heavy monsoon rain and wind between June 20 and 22, which has hampered research efforts and helicopter trips.
As doctors and emergency personnel across the country try to gain access to the site, aid is expected to be limited, as several organizations withdrew from the aid-dependent country when the Taliban took over. power in August last year.
The remaining ones are stretched thin. On Wednesday, the World Health Organization (WHO) said it had mobilized “all resources” from across the country, with field teams providing medicines and emergency support. But, as one WHO official said, “resources are exaggerated here, not just for this region.”
‘Very desolate’
The hesitation of the international community to deal with the Taliban and the “very messy bureaucracy of the group where it is difficult to obtain information from a source” has led to a communication gap in rescue efforts, Baheer, who is also the founder of the Save help group. Afghans from hunger – he said.
“The core of it all is how politics has translated into this communication gap, not only between countries and the Taliban, but also between international aid organizations and the Taliban,” he added.
Baheer gives an example of how he has been acting as an information channel with WFP and other aid organizations, informing them that the Afghan Ministry of Defense was offering air aid from humanitarian organizations to severely affected areas.
Meanwhile, some people spent the night sleeping in makeshift shelters outdoors, while lifeguards searched for survivors with a flashlight. The United Nations says 2,000 homes are believed to have been destroyed. Images of the heavily affected Paktika province, where most of the deaths have been reported, show houses reduced to dust and rubble.
Hsiao-Wei Lee, WFP’s deputy country director in Afghanistan, described the situation on the ground as “very bleak,” where some people in heavily affected districts “are completely decimated or 70% collapsed.” , he said.
“There will be months and possibly years of rebuilding,” he said. “The needs are much more massive than just food … It could be a refuge for example, to be able to facilitate the movement of these foods as well as the customs office, the logistics would be useful.”
Authorities say aid is reaching the affected areas.
The government has so far distributed food, tents, clothing and other supplies to the provinces affected by the quake, according to the official Twitter account of the Afghan Ministry of Defense. Medical and relief teams deployed by the Afghan government are already present in the areas affected by the quake and are trying to transport the injured to medical facilities and health centers by land and air, he added.
“Carpet sanctioning an entire country and an entire people”
Although the economic crisis in Afghanistan has been approaching for years as a result of the conflict and drought, it sank to new depths after the Taliban took power, which pushed the United States and its allies. to freeze about $ 7 billion of the country’s foreign reserves and cut funding.
The US no longer has a presence in Afghanistan after the hasty withdrawal of its troops and the collapse of the previous US-backed Afghan government. Like almost all other nations, it has no official relations with the Taliban government.
The sanctions have paralyzed the Afghan economy and sent many of its 20 million people into a severe hunger crisis. Millions of Afghans are out of work, government employees have not been paid and the price of food has skyrocketed.
Humanitarian aid is excluded from sanctions, but there are impediments, according to draft statements by Martin Griffiths, head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), before a Security Council. the UN in the situation in Afghanistan.
This includes a significant need for funding, the Taliban authorities “seek to play a role in the selection of beneficiaries and channel assistance to people from their own priority lists,” and the “formal banking system continues to block transfers.” he writes.
This means that “around 80% of organizations (which responded to the OCHA follow-up survey) face delays in transferring funds, with two-thirds reporting that their international banks continue to deny transfers “More than 60% of organizations say the lack of available cash in the country is a programmatic impediment.”
Baheer says the sanctions “are hurting us so much” that Afghans are struggling to send money to families affected by the quake.
“The fact that we barely have a banking system, the fact that we haven’t had any new currency printed or introduced into the country in the last nine or ten months, our assets are frozen … these sanctions don’t work.” He said.
He added: “The only sanctions that make moral sense are sanctions aimed at specific individuals rather than sanctioning an entire country and an entire people.”
Although “sanctions have affected much of the country, there is an exemption for humanitarian aid, so we are introducing it to support those most in need,” UNICEF’s Mort told CNN .
The Taliban “do not prevent us from distributing any of this, on the contrary they allow us,” he added.
Experts and officials say the most urgent immediate needs include medical care and transportation for the injured, shelter and supplies for the displaced, food and water and clothing.
The UN has distributed medical supplies and sent mobile medical equipment to Afghanistan, but has warned it lacks search and rescue capabilities.
Baheer told CNN on Wednesday that the Taliban could only send six rescue helicopters “because when the United States left it deactivated most of the planes whether they belonged to Afghan forces or to them.”
Pakistan has offered to help, opening border crossings in its northern province of Khyber Pakhtunkwa and allowing injured Afghans to enter the country without a visa to receive treatment, according to regional government spokesman Mohammad Ali Saif.
“400 injured Afghans have moved to Pakistan this morning to receive treatment and a flow of people continues, these figures are expected to increase by the end of the day, Saif told CNN.
Pakistan has maintained a strict limit on the entry of Afghans into the country by crossing the land border since the Taliban took power.
CNN’s Richard Roth, Robert Shackleford, Yong Xiong, Jessie Yeung, Sophia Saifi, Mohammed Shafi Kakar and Aliza Kassim contributed to this report.