2023-10-12 16:43:20
According to the United Nations, mainly children and women died in the devastating earthquakes in Afghanistan. They accounted for 90 percent of the deaths registered so far, said Siddig Ibrahim from UNICEF in Afghanistan on Thursday. “Women and children are often at home, taking care of the household and looking after children.” They are therefore most at risk if, for example, buildings collapse.
According to media reports, almost 2,500 people died in several earthquakes in the western Afghan region of Herat over the weekend. More than 2,000 other people were injured. The UN emergency relief office OCHA, however, had so far put the number of deaths at more than 1,000. Herat is located in the border province of the same name near Iran and is the second largest city in Afghanistan after Kabul.
Ibrahim reported that many people were traumatized by the earthquake. With winter approaching, those who have lost their homes and belongings are in “acute distress, as they lack warm clothing, shelter, cooking utensils and access to clean water.”
There are frequent severe earthquakes in the region where the Arabian, Indian and Eurasian plates meet. A severe earthquake killed more than 1,000 people in Afghanistan in 2022. After several decades of conflict, many houses are poorly built. Earthquakes therefore often cause great damage.
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