Children, women make up most victims of recent Afghan earthquakes, WHO finds
- Two-thirds of those with severe injuries following the latest earthquakes in Afghanistan are children and women, WHO’s Dr Alaa AbouZeid said
- He warned that financing the humanitarian operations remains critical, with global attention and funding shifting to emerging crises elsewhere
Women and children make up two-thirds of the victims of the recent earthquakes in Afghanistan who were hospitalised with severe injuries, the head of the World Health Organization’s emergency response in the country said on Monday.
The Taliban administration said at least 2,400 people were killed and over 2,000 injured in Saturday’s quakes which were among the world’s deadliest this year, after temblors in Turkey and Syria in which an estimated 50,000 people were killed.
“The earthquake happened around 11 in the morning, when men were out of the houses, so majority of those who are injured and died are women and children who were inside the houses at the time,” WHO’s Dr Alaa AbouZeid said.
“Two-thirds of those with severe injuries who are admitted in the hospital I have seen yesterday are children and women,” he said, referring to his time in Herat following the quake.
He also warned that financing the humanitarian operations remained critical, with global attention and funding shifting away from Afghanistan. That could 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.
