Earthquake Afghanistan

Teams from the Afghan Red Crescent are active on the ground. They are assessing local needs and damage, providing first aid and transport for the wounded, searching for people under the rubble and conducting rescue operations.

The Afghan Red Crescent already sent five mobile health teams and several emergency response teams to the region. 

The Afghan Red Crescent is also receiving support from International Red Cross partners on the ground. The Turkish Red Crescent is, for example, providing distribution of hot meals and relief supplies. They are also planning an air cargo of humanitarian supplies bound for Afghanistan. The Danish Red Cross is supporting two mobile health teams on the ground and is looking at distributing hot meals and cash to those affected.

Also, the International Red Cross Committee (ICRC) is present in Afghanistan and is supporting the Afghan Red Crescent in the:

• Sending out their emergency teams 

• Equipped with medical equipment for hospitals 

• Provide potable water and sanitation facilities 

• Helping individuals who have lost contact with their relatives (Restoring Family Links) 

Belgian Red Cross-Flanders is immediately releasing 100,000 euros from its emergency relief fund to support humanitarian aid.  

Support from Flanders is being deployed in cooperation with the Turkish Red Crescent in the affected region.

The earthquake occurred in an area where the humanitarian situation was already uncertain before the disaster. In addition, it is a mountainous and remote area where access to medical care and other basic services presents an additional challenge. At the same time, as a result of the earthquake, roads in the area have been destroyed or blocked by landslides making relief efforts and distribution of relief supplies more difficult. Due to blocked roads, evacuations of injured people must be done by helicopter. Medical teams are either transported by helicopter or sometimes walk for several hours to reach remote villages.

The quake occurred at a depth of only 8 km, leading experts to fear that the damage will be extra large will be. In addition, the earthquake took place at night and many families were presumably at home which increases the likelihood of a high number of injuries and fatalities increases. In addition, there is the risk of aftershocks, which can disrupt relief efforts and destroy unaffected infrastructure or block access roads. Aftershocks cause increasing fear and uncertainty among the population. There are also reports that many people are currently regrouping, voluntarily or involuntarily, in the affected region, causing overloaded roads and delaying relief efforts.

In addition, the area was already hit by severe flooding shortly before the earthquake, severely damaging infrastructure and making relief efforts even more difficult.

The Afghan Red Crescent has been providing humanitarian services to communities in Afghanistan for more than 90 years. As a local volunteer organization, the Afghan Red Crescent operates in all provinces of the country, reaching people in need in very hard-to-reach or remote areas. It is a humanitarian organization that carries out its humanitarian mandate as a helper to the authorities in Afghanistan, this according to the 7 fundamental principles of the Red Cross including neutrality and independence.  

Since the 2021 transition, authorities have consistently assured that the independence and neutrality of the Afghan Red Crescent will be respected. 

The implementation of Belgian Red Cross-Flanders projects is always done in collaboration with Red Cross partners active in the field and in line with the 7 principles of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement to ensure that aid reaches those who need it most. 

Several villages were completely destroyed, hundreds of houses were damaged and thousands of people were injured. The official death toll from the earthquake in Afghanistan currently stands at nearly 1,000 people. At the same time, it is complex to get relief efforts underway en masse because the disaster area is difficult to access with narrow and blocked roads. To support urgent relief efforts, Belgian Red Cross-Flanders is releasing 100,000 euros.

The International Red Cross and local Red Crescent are currently going to great lengths to get people out from under the rubble. In this, the first 72 hours after an earthquake are crucial. "The earthquake hit an already severely weakened area. Many people already needed humanitarian aid before the earthquake, many houses were not in the best condition, they absolutely cannot cope with such an earthquake now" explains Vincent Verbeecke of Belgian Red Cross-Flanders .

In addition to the Search & Rescue teams that are now being urgently deployed, a massive logistical operation is starting at the same time. "We are talking about hundreds of dead, thousands of injured and thousands more whose homes and water supplies have been rendered unusable. The needs are running extremely high in a short period of time," Verbeecke said.

Logistics emergency relief

Now that the International Red Cross has been able to partially identify the needs, Belgian Red Cross-Flanders decided to release 100,000 euros.

Initial requests for help are broad:

Support from Flanders is being deployed in cooperation with the Turkish Red Crescent in the affected region.

Those who would like to support Belgian Red Cross-Flanders and also contribute can do so at: BE53 0000 0000 5353 with the mention'earthquake Afghanistan'.

The first 72 hours after a major earthquake are the critical period for retrieving survivors from under the rubble. After three days, that chance of finding survivors drops significantly.

Several factors complicate operations in the area: "It's a mountainous area with difficult access and that creates huge logistical challenges. You need specialized equipment to clear debris, but access to the area is not easy: the roads are narrow, many are blocked by landslides, affected villages are remote. On top of that, the region already had great humanitarian needs before the earthquake."

Acute emergency response - search and rescue

The priority in the affected area in Afghanistan right now is to get people alive from under the rubble. "In the beginning this often involves a lot of improvisation, severe earthquakes create chaos, people are looking for their relatives, roads are blocked, there is a lot of confusion. It is then essential to get teams on the ground as quickly as possible to systematically search for survivors" says Vincent Verbeecke, spokesman Belgian Red Cross-Flanders.

Depending on the situation, initial assistance often consists of people from the local population or government digging for victims. "In these types of situations and areas, it is often also manual work: using hands and shovels to dig debris to free survivors." Then professional teams arrive consisting of 10-20 people. They will conduct ongoing rescue operations with specialized equipment. Essentially, this is strictly coordinated so that rescue operations are efficient.

The Afghan Red Crescent is active in the area with Search & Rescue teams and emergency humanitarian supplies such as medicine, tending to the wounded.

Logistics emergency relief

Getting people alive from under the rubble is the priority, but in the meantime, a gigantic logistics chain must also get underway. "People's homes are destroyed, water supplies are broken, cooking facilities are becoming scarce."

The first needs that arise are broad. These range from tents, mattresses and blankets so that people who have lost their homes can sleep safely and under cover. Cooking kits and potable water so that affected people can survive, a risk when water supplies are hit is that people start consuming non-potable water out of necessity, then the risk of disease increases dramatically. People can go several days without food if necessary, not without water. The Red Cross calculates that on average there is a need for 20 liters of potable water per person.

In addition, getting powdered baby milk to affected areas is a priority. Dignitiy kits for menstruating women and hygiene kits for the general population are also on the priority list.

Psychological impact

After the first 72 hours, the chances of finding survivors drop dramatically. Exceptions, people recovered alive from under the rubble after five or even 10 days exist, but are rare. "This is also the time when aid workers get very tough, you have the physical exhaustion of rescue work, but also psychological trauma: you see people buried under the rubble, you sometimes hear people under the rubble but you can't save them. Those are intense circumstances."