Kabul: A week after a powerful 6.0-magnitude earthquake struck eastern Afghanistan, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported on Monday that more than 84,000 people have been affected. The ruling Taliban has said over 2,200 people died and more than 3,600 others were injured. The World Health Organization said nearly 6,800 homes were destroyed in the August 31 quake.
According to Ghana News Agency, in the aftermath, reports emerged claiming that Taliban authorities had blocked rescue efforts for women trapped under the rubble. Aid groups and eyewitnesses deny these claims, saying they have seen no evidence of such discrimination on the ground.
Christina Ihle, from the Germany-based Afghan Volunteer Women's Association, noted that many remote mountain villages remain inaccessible by road due to landslides and ongoing tremors. Women, children, and the elderly are being prioritized in evacuations by Taliban helicopters, Ihle said. 'Aid workers and, increasingly, female aid workers on the ground are doing everything they can to provide survivors with the best possible care as quickly as possible. To be honest, there is no room for ideology at this moment,' she said.
Another aid organization, the International Rescue Committee (IRC), confirmed this sentiment. A local resident, Sayed Gharib, who witnessed the earthquake first-hand in Stan village near the epicentre, described a community in chaos but united. 'Those reports are false,' he said. 'The young people carried the injured women and children from the houses to the open spaces. That night was truly a doomsday, and no one was thinking about those things.'
