Women and children bear brunt of quakes in Afghanistan

Kabul — Women and children make up two-thirds of the victims of Saturday’s earthquakes in Afghanistan who were admitted to hospital with severe injuries, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Monday.

The Taliban administration said at least 2,400 people were killed and more than 2,000 injured. 

“The earthquake happened around 11 in the morning, when men were out of the houses, so the majority of those who are injured and died are women and children who were inside the houses at the time,” Dr Alaa AbouZeid, the head of the WHO’s emergency response in the country, said.

“Two-thirds of those with severe injuries who are admitted in the hospital I have seen are children and women,” he said, referring to his time in Herat after the quake.

He warned that financing the humanitarian operations remains critical, with global attention and funding shifting away from Afghanistan. That can be attributed to competing or emerging crises around the world, such in the Middle East and Ukraine, and amid concerns over Taliban restrictions on women, diplomats and aid officials say.

AbouZeid said it is “devastating” to see the number of children in hospital in critical condition. “I have seen a child like three or four months old with head trauma, due to the earthquake,” he said. Head trauma can cause long-lasting debilitating effects or disabilities, AbouZeid said.

The WHO’s response teams are taking the matter seriously, given the impact of such injuries on the victim and their families, who would need to support them in the long run, he said.

While the response teams saved many lives, hospitals need to be better equipped to deal with further casualties and similar situations in future, he said.

Afghanistan’s healthcare system, largely reliant on foreign aid, has faced crippling cuts in the two years since the Taliban took over and much international assistance, which had formed the backbone of the economy, was halted.

The UN’s humanitarian office has announced $5m worth of assistance for the quake response, but immediate material support has come from only a few countries.

“The news diverted to what’s going on in the Middle East over the past two days and there was very little attention” towards the existing crisis in Afghanistan, he said.

Reuters