Majority of Herat’s Earthquake Victims Are Women & Children, Says WHO

Alaa AbouZeid, Emergency Team Lead of the World Health Organisation (WHO) in Afghanistan, on Monday said that most of the victims of Saturday's earthquake in western Afghanistan are women and children.

According to the WHO official, some of the victims have been hospitalised due to severe wounds.

The Taliban government announced on Monday that at least 2,400 people died in the earthquake and more than 2,000 others had been injured.

“The earthquake happened around 11 in the morning, when men were out of the houses, so the majority of those who are injured and died are women and children who were inside the houses at the time", AbouZeid told Reuters.

He added that two-thirds of the victims with serious injuries at the hospital are children and women.

AbouZeid expressed his deep concern after witnessing the alarming number of children inside hospitals in critical condition, describing it as “devastating”.

Abouzeid emphasised that the provision of financial aid for rescue operations and support for the earthquake victims in Herat is very important, especially since the donor countries pay less attention to Afghanistan now due to crises in other parts of the world.

Foreign diplomats, officials from aid organisations, and experts have pointed out that the crises in Ukraine and the Middle East, along with the restriction on women's employment within aid organisations, have collectively led to a decrease in international aid to Afghanistan.

This WHO official stated that incidents in the Middle East have diverted attention and there was little attention toward the crisis in Afghanistan.

He added that hospitals need more equipment to treat earthquake victims.