Daily Times

The relief wing of the United Nations Saturday called for “urgent” assistance for Afghan families in Herat, who have lost everything to a series of devastating earthquakes, as temperatures dropped into single digits.

With about two-thirds of the affected areas assessed, more than 21,500 homes are confirmed destroyed and a further 17,000 severely damaged, according to the UN Humanitarian Affairs Coordination Office (OCHA). Over 154,000 people have been impacted.

That number includes about 7,500 pregnant women, many of whom lost family members.

The deaths of their loved ones have taken a devastating toll, the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) said The agency has deployed psychosocial counsellors to help them cope with overwhelming loss. They need someone to listen to them and help them cope with their trauma, said counsellor Faiza Zarie, adding that the availability of psychosocial support is critical. Women also face other challenges heightened risks of preventable maternal death, gender-based violence and hunger. UNFPA is working to address reproductive health needs. It issued a funding appeal for $11.6 million to continue delivering life-saving sexual and reproductive health supplies and services. Access to medical care has also been severely affected, with at least 40 facilities reported damaged, a region that was already largely deprived of essential health services before the disaster.

The World Health Organization (WHO) warns that services for about 580,000 people have been severely disrupted.

Health workers are also affected by the disaster either from loss of family members or from fear of collapsing health facilities, which makes it even harder for them to provide the health care their communities need, Alaa AbouZeid, WHO team leader emergencies in Afghanistan, told reporters in Geneva, from Kabul. The health consequences are staggering, she added

The UN agency has been one of the first responders on the ground, supporting hospitals with medicines and supplies and organizing mobile health and nutrition teams.

Sustaining health services will require extra resources, and WHO and partners have launched an appeal for $7.9 million to provide support for the next six months.

Meanwhile, the United Nations aid agencies say the first 20-truck convoy of assistance that reached Gaza on Saturday is “only a small beginning and far from enough.”

In a joint statement, the agencies — UN Development Programme (UNDP), the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the World Food Programme (WFP) and the World Health Organization (WHO) — said more than 1.6 million people are in critical need of humanitarian aid the enclave battered by Israeli bombing raids.

“Vulnerable people are at greatest risk and children are dying at an alarming rate and being denied their right to protection, food, water and health care,” the agencies said.

“Gaza was a desperate humanitarian situation before the most recent hostilities. It is now catastrophic. The world must do more,” they said. The aid that entered Gaza on Saturday “is only a small beginning and far from enough”, five UN agencies said in the joint statement. They called for a humanitarian ceasefire and safe access to civilians in efforts to save lives and prevent more suffering. Hundreds of trucks are waiting at the border. Pakistan has also dispatched a plane-load of humanitarian assistance for Palestinian people in Gaza. This “first, but limited shipment” will provide “an urgently needed lifeline to some of the hundreds of thousands of civilians, mostly women and children, who have been cut off from water, food, medicine, fuel and other essentials,” the UN agencies said, “but it is only a small beginning and far from enough.” Their statement highlighted the immense needs in the wake of the Israel-Gaza crisis, which began on 7 October after Hamas militants launched attacks in Israel, killing scores and seizing more than 100 hostages.

Israel responded with deadly air strikes and bombardment, a complete siege of Gaza, and ordered civilians to evacuate the northern part of the enclave.

More than 1.6 million people in Gaza are in critical need of humanitarian aid, it was pointed out. Children make up nearly half the population are among the most vulnerable, along with pregnant women and elderly persons.

Furthermore, two weeks of constant bombings have left much of the civilian infrastructure in Gaza damaged or destroy, including shelters, health facilities, water, sanitation, and electrical systems.

The agencies warned that “time is running out before mortality rates could skyrocket due to disease outbreaks and lack of healthcare capacity.”