By RIAZAT BUTT (Associated Press)
ISLAMABAD (AP) — More than 90% of the folks killed by a 6.3-magnitude earthquake in western Afghanistan final weekend had been ladies and kids, U.N. officers reported Thursday.
Taliban officers mentioned Saturday’s earthquake killed greater than 2,000 folks of all ages and genders throughout Herat province. The epicenter was in Zenda Jan district, the place 1,294 folks died, 1,688 had been injured and each residence was destroyed, in response to U.N. figures.
Women and kids had been extra more likely to have been at residence when the quake struck within the morning, mentioned Siddig Ibrahim, the chief of the UNICEF subject workplace in Herat. “When the first earthquake hit, people thought it was an explosion, and they ran into their homes,” he mentioned.
Hundreds of individuals, largely ladies, stay lacking in Zenda Jan.
The Afghanistan consultant for the United Nations Population Fund, Jaime Nadal, mentioned there would have been no “gender dimension” to the dying toll if the quake had occurred at night time.
“At that time of the day, men were out in the field,” Nadal instructed The Associated Press. “Many men migrate to Iran for work. The women were at home doing the chores and looking after the children. They found themselves trapped under the rubble. There was clearly a gender dimension.”
The preliminary quake, quite a few aftershocks and a second 6.3-magnitude quake on Wednesday flattened total villages, destroying tons of of mud-brick houses that might not face up to such pressure. Schools, well being clinics and different village services additionally collapsed.
The Norwegian Refugee Council described the devastation as monumental.
“Early reports from our teams are that many of those who lost their lives were small children who were crushed or suffocated after buildings collapsed on them,” the council mentioned.
The maternity hospital in Herat province has cracks that make the construction unsafe. The U.N. has supplied tents so pregnant ladies have someplace to remain and obtain care, Nadal mentioned.
U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric mentioned the world physique additionally has supplied ambulances to a regional hospital and distributed photo voltaic lamps, hygiene kits and different assist to tons of of displaced households. The World Food Program is sending over 81 tons of meals, Dujarric mentioned at U.N. headquarters Thursday.
Many folks inside and outdoors Herat’s provincial capital are nonetheless sleeping exterior, at the same time as temperatures drop.
The disproportionate impression of the quake on ladies has left kids with out moms, their major caregivers, elevating questions on who will elevate them or the way to reunite them with fathers who could be out of the province or Afghanistan.
Aid officers say orphanages are non-existent or uncommon, which means kids who’ve misplaced one or each mother and father had been more likely to be taken in by surviving family or neighborhood members.
Earthquakes are widespread in Afghanistan, the place there are a selection of fault traces and frequent motion amongst three close by tectonic plates.
Women could also be vulnerable to not getting info on earthquake preparedness due to Taliban edicts curbing their mobility and rights, and restrictions imposed on feminine humanitarian employees, a U.N. report has warned.
Authorities have barred women from college past sixth grade and stopped ladies from working at nongovernmental teams, though there are exceptions for some sectors like well being care. The Taliban additionally say that ladies can’t journey lengthy distances with out male chaperones.
Aid businesses say their feminine Afghan employees members are “for now” working freely in Herat and reaching ladies and women affected by the earthquake.
UNICEF has launched a $20 million enchantment to assist the estimate 13,000 kids and households devastated by the earthquake.
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Associated Press author Jennifer Peltz contributed from the United Nations.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”