By Olivia Le Poidevin
GENEVA (Reuters) -Urgent funding is needed to scale up life-saving support for families forced to sleep outdoors following powerful earthquakes that recently struck eastern Afghanistan, the UN’s migration agency said on Thursday.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) is appealing for $16.8 million, in line with the United Nations joint humanitarian appeal, to provide emergency shelter and health care for 134,000 people.
“Families have lost everything and are now sleeping in the open, without proper shelter, food or clean water,” said IOM Deputy Director General Ugochi Daniels.
The 6.0 magnitude earthquake struck on the night of August 31 into September 1, killing more than 2,200 people, destroying more than 7,000 homes and affecting nearly half a million people, according to IOM.
The agency warned that the situation could worsen without urgent support as winter approaches, with women and children facing particular protection risks due to unsafe conditions, lack of privacy and limited access to basic services.
More than 2,000 families have already received assistance from IOM in Nangarhar and Kunar, after relief teams navigated blocked roads and damaged infrastructure.
IOM has raised the alarm that urgent funding is needed as the country faces multiple crises, including the return of more than 1.7 million Afghans from Iran and Pakistan in 2025.
According to IOM data, nearly 800,000 internally displaced persons and returning Afghan migrants already live in extremely vulnerable conditions in the affected provinces.
The U.N. considers Afghanistan’s humanitarian crisis to be among the worst in the world, but funding is down 35% since last year due to cuts from major donors, including the United States.
(Reporting by Olivia Le Poidevin; Editing by Alex Richardson)
