STORY
The UK has announced £1 million in emergency funding for families hit by the earthquake in eastern Afghanistan, with the money split equally between the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC). Ministers said the support will fund mobile health teams, emergency medical kits, dignity kits and temporary shelters, alongside IFRC search-and-rescue efforts and ambulance deployments. All assistance will be routed through humanitarian partners to ensure it reaches people in need and not the Taliban authorities.
Foreign Secretary David Lammy called the situation in Kunar province “truly tragic” and said the package would help partners deliver “critical healthcare and emergency supplies to the most hard-hit,” praising aid workers operating in difficult conditions. The government added that mountainous terrain and recent flooding have hampered access to stricken communities, compounding a wider crisis in which more than 23 million Afghans already require assistance.
The government’s press release cited a death toll of more than 800 at the time of publication, but international agencies and media now report that fatalities have surpassed 1,400 with thousands injured, as rescuers reach remote districts and aftershocks and landslides complicate relief.