Photo: Morocco World News Antonio Guterres, the UN Secretary-General, has called for urgent and increased assistance to the survivors of the eastern Afghanistan earthquake, stressing that current resources are not sufficient to meet the needs. In a statement released by UNAMA, Guterres said that the United Nations will spare no effort to help the people of Afghanistan and urged the international community to allocate more humanitarian resources for an immediate response to this disaster. According to the statement, so far 5 million dollars from the UN Emergency Response Fund (CERF) and another 5 million dollars from the Afghanistan Humanitarian Fund have been allocated for urgent aid. The UN Secretary-General, offering condolences to the families of victims and wishing recovery for the injured, said that the United Nations and its partners are rapidly assessing needs, delivering emergency assistance, and preparing to mobilize more support. This comes after the 6.0-magnitude earthquake on Sunday night struck the provinces of Kunar, Nangarhar, Laghman, and Nuristan. The Taliban say that so far at least 1,411 people have been killed and more than three thousand injured.

Photo: Mohsen Karimi/AFP/Getty via The Guardian After the mass wave of forced deportations of Afghan refugees from Iran, the streets of Herat now witness sad faces, where hunger, homelessness, and helplessness have driven them to beg; in a country that itself suffers from poverty, unemployment, and chronic economic crises. According to statistics, in the past six months more than one million Afghan refugees have been forcibly deported from Iran. Many of these families, without shelter, without financial support, and without a plan for a new beginning, are now stretching out their hands for help in the streets. Zan News has spoken with three families who were recently deported from Iran; bitter stories of poverty, homelessness, and shattered hopes. Sohila, a 17-year-old girl, begs at night in the streets of Herat with her mother and two younger brothers. They had lived in Tehran for six years, where the mother and daughter worked as domestic helpers in Iranian homes. Now, however, they have been deported and left helpless in a city where they know no one and where there is no work for them. With eyes full of tears, Sohila told Zan News: “We lived in Tehran for six years. My mother and I cleaned houses. When we were expelled, we fell into poverty. Here there is no work for women. We are forced to beg. For three nights we have not eaten anything. We have no one in Afghanistan.” Sohila’s mother, Zarghona, could not hide her tears. With a voice choked from crying, she said: “My husband was killed in the war. He was a soldier in the army. Later we went to Iran illegally. Now we have returned but we have no solution. We have no one here and no money to return to Mazar.” Shabana, another middle-aged woman, has turned to begging on the roadside with her husband and teenage daughter. She said none of them has found work and for that reason, out of poverty and desperation, they have been begging for ten days to provide bread for the night. She told Zan News about her life and hardships: “My husband goes out every day looking for work, but nothing is found. I also went to people’s houses for work, they said there is no work. We have been begging for ten days. The government only gave 6,000 Afghanis at the border, it was not even enough for our travel fare.” “I want dignified work, not pity.” Lailma sits with her two small children around midnight on the 64-meter road in Herat. She said she is without a guardian and that her husband, who was addicted, disappeared after the deportation. She added that now the only way left to feed her children is begging: “I have no one here. There is no work. For the sake of my children’s stomachs I sit here. My request is that the government find me dignified work, I do not want pity.” The End of an Exile, the Beginning of a Tragedy The return of Afghan refugees from neighboring countries such as Iran, if carried out without planning, brings nothing but poverty and displacement. Families who had fled abroad with countless hopes and fears of war, poverty, and insecurity, now return with empty hands and an uncertain future. With no job opportunities, no shelter, and no support services, these refugees have not only been rejected in exile but also forgotten in their homeland.

Social Media At least six pregnant women in Kunar province have died following premature labor caused by earthquake shock, due to the lack of female doctors. Local sources say several other women also lost their newborns. These women died while a team of volunteer female doctors from Nangarhar had planned to travel to Kunar to treat earthquake victims, but the Taliban’s Directorate of Public Health in Nangarhar prevented their trip. According to one member of the team, the Taliban cited “opposition from the Department of Vice and Virtue” as the reason. Because of Taliban restrictions, women in Kunar have extremely limited access to healthcare. Local hospitals in the districts operate without female physicians, and most health centers only have one midwife. The provincial hospital in Kunar is also facing a severe shortage of female doctors. Many families were forced to transfer pregnant women to Nangarhar for treatment; however, some of them died on the way. Women’s rights activists say that with the Taliban’s policy banning women from being treated by male doctors, the right to life and health of women and children is being disregarded. They stress that in emergencies and natural disasters, saving lives should be the absolute priority. This is not the first time the Taliban have blocked female doctors from providing aid. Two years ago, during the Herat earthquake, they also prevented female doctors and aid workers from reaching the affected areas. The deadly earthquake on Sunday night (August 31) in eastern Afghanistan left more than 1,400 people dead and 2,500 injured in Kunar alone. In Nangarhar, at least 12 people were killed and 255 injured, while 58 were injured in Laghman and 4 in Nuristan.

Photo: Pierre Albouy / UN Geneva (Flickr) Richard Bennett, the UN Human Rights Council’s Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan, has called on Pakistan to stop the deportation of Afghan refugees following the deadly earthquake in eastern Afghanistan. On Tuesday (September 2), Bennett wrote in a post on the social platform X: “I urge Pakistan to at least suspend planned deportations of Afghans and focus on supporting humanitarian efforts in the region.” He emphasized: “This would be a sign of a compassionate neighbor and is now an urgent priority.” This request comes as the deadline for Afghan refugees to leave Pakistan expired two days ago. According to the Taliban’s Commission for Refugee Affairs, just yesterday more than 11,000 people returned to Afghanistan through Pakistan’s border crossings and nearly 5,000 more came back from Iran. The United Nations has said that more than 2.3 million Afghan refugees have returned from Pakistan and Iran to Afghanistan so far this year. The crisis continues as Afghanistan is simultaneously facing the catastrophe of the eastern earthquake and a new wave of displacement and humanitarian needs.

Photo: Reuters / Stringer via ABC News Save the Children Canada has announced that in the aftermath of the deadly earthquake in Kunar and Nangarhar provinces, at least 15,000 children have been affected. The organization also said that 3,000 families in eastern Afghanistan have been impacted. The agency stressed that children are the first groups in urgent need of support after every devastating event. According to the organization, Afghan children had already been facing multiple crises, including extreme poverty, hunger, drought, and destructive floods. Save the Children added that its teams, with limited resources, have been deployed to the earthquake-affected areas. It is worth noting that earlier, the World Health Organization had announced that more than 12,000 people have been directly affected by this earthquake. Available figures show that the 6-magnitude earthquake on Sunday night in eastern Afghanistan has so far left more than 1,400 dead and over 3,000 injured.

Photo: AFP via Aljazeera Hamdullah Fitrat, deputy spokesman of the Taliban, announced today, Tuesday (September 2), in a post on social media platform X that the death toll from the deadly Kunar earthquake continues to rise. According to him, only in the districts of Noorgul, Sowkay, Chapa Dara, Pech Dara, Watapur, and Asadabad, at least 1,411 people have so far lost their lives and 3,124 others have been injured. He added that more than 5,400 houses have been completely destroyed. Fitrat stated that rescue operations are ongoing in all affected areas, and in locations where helicopters cannot land, Taliban forces have been airlifted to pull survivors from the rubble and transfer the wounded to safer places. According to the Taliban, a special camp has been set up in Khas Kunar district to coordinate emergency aid, and two other centers have also been established near the disaster site to manage the transfer of the wounded, burial of victims, and rescue of survivors. Fitrat further said that, in addition to condolence messages, several countries have announced their humanitarian aid for the earthquake victims in Afghanistan, part of which has been handed over to Taliban special committees.

Photo: WAKIL KOHSAR / AFP Richard Bennett, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Afghanistan, has expressed condolences to the victims of the deadly earthquake in Kunar and Nangarhar and emphasized the vital role of women in the relief process. On Tuesday (September 2), Bennett wrote in a post on X: “As the scale of devastation from the Afghanistan earthquake becomes clear, I extend my deepest condolences to the victims and their families.” While appreciating the efforts of rescue workers in Kunar and Nangarhar, Bennett stressed the crucial role of female aid workers in assisting those in need. This comes as sources told Zan News yesterday about a serious shortage of female doctors in health centers in Kunar and Nangarhar. Meanwhile, UNAMA today issued a call for urgent assistance to the earthquake-affected people. According to available figures, the 6-magnitude earthquake on Sunday night in Kunar and Nangarhar has so far left more than 800 dead and nearly 3,000 injured.

Photo: AFP via English Alarabiya Reuters has reported that two days after the deadly earthquake in eastern Afghanistan, a large number of bodies remain trapped under the rubble, and the mountainous terrain of Kunar has created serious challenges for rescue operations. According to Ehsanullah Ehsan, head of the Taliban’s Disaster Management Authority in Kunar, it is still unclear how many bodies remain under the debris. He said: “We cannot accurately predict how many bodies are still under the rubble. Our effort is to complete the rescue operation as soon as possible and begin assistance to the affected families.” Reuters, citing local Taliban officials, wrote that rescue operations were carried out in four villages yesterday, and the current focus is on delivering aid to remote areas. Mountainous ground, narrow roads, and unfavorable weather conditions are the main obstacles preventing aid workers from reaching remote areas, where mud houses have been completely destroyed. Meanwhile, the World Health Organization has announced that about 12,000 people have been affected by this earthquake.

Photo: Wahidullah Kakar/AP via Guardian The Guardian has reported that residents of Kunar are speaking of catastrophic conditions following last night’s deadly earthquake. Mohammad Aziz, a resident of Noorgul district in Kunar, told The Guardian that 10 of his relatives, including five of his children, were killed in the quake and many people in his village remain trapped under the rubble. He said: “The poor people in this area have lost everything. There is death in every home, and beneath the rubble of each roof, there are dead bodies. The mud houses have been wiped away, and destruction is everywhere. People are desperately seeking help.” Meanwhile, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) has stated that more than 1.2 million people felt strong tremors from the quake and that at least five aftershocks were recorded throughout the night. It is worth noting that the 6-magnitude earthquake struck Afghanistan’s eastern provinces at around 11:47 pm on Sunday night, with mountainous Kunar being the hardest hit. The epicenter was registered 27 kilometers northeast of Jalalabad and about 140 kilometers from Kabul. Reports indicate that the earthquake was shallow, which contributed to the widespread destruction.

Social Media After the deadly earthquake in eastern Afghanistan that claimed hundreds of lives, several regional countries have announced their readiness to help the victims. China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Monday (September 1) that the country will provide its assistance based on Afghanistan’s needs and expressed condolences to the families of the victims. Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India, also expressed sorrow over the tragedy in a post on X and wrote that India is ready to deliver all possible humanitarian and relief assistance to the victims. Mohammad Ishaq Dar, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Pakistan, also extended his condolences in a message on X to the “people and brotherly government of Afghanistan” and wrote: “Our hearts are with the families and communities affected by this tragedy.” Meanwhile, a 6-magnitude earthquake struck Afghanistan’s eastern provinces last night. The Taliban have announced that at least 800 people were killed in Kunar and 12 in Nangarhar. According to their figures, 2,500 were injured in Kunar, 255 in Nangarhar, 58 in Laghman, and 4 in Nuristan. The Taliban have said these figures are preliminary and may rise further. Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban spokesperson, said that in some areas victims are still trapped under rubble and rescue operations face serious challenges due to destroyed roads. He added that the injured are currently being evacuated by helicopter and called on citizens to help the victims with shelter, food, and clothing.