UN WARNS OF EXPONENTIAL RISE IN CASUALTIES FROM AFGHANISTAN EARTHQUAKE

The United Nations has warned of an exponential rise in casualties from a major earthquake that struck eastern Afghanistan on Sunday, as the Taliban reported a death toll of over 1,400 people and more than 3,000 injured. The figures provided by Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid were just for the province of Kunar.

The powerful 6.0 magnitude earthquake caused extensive damage, flattening villages and trapping people under the rubble of homes constructed mostly of mud bricks and wood that were unable to withstand the shock. Rescue and relief efforts are being hampered by rough terrain, forcing Taliban authorities to air-drop dozens of commandos to evacuate the injured from places where helicopters cannot land.

Indrika Ratwatte, the U.N.’s resident coordinator for Afghanistan, said rescuers are scrambling in a “race against time” to reach the mountainous and remote area hit. “We cannot afford to forget the people of Afghanistan who are facing multiple crises, multiple shocks, and the resilience of the communities has been saturated,” Ratwatte said, while urging the international community to step forward.

The U.N. official warned that the casualty rate is likely to rise exponentially, given the nature of the earthquake and the type of homes that were affected. “If you were to model it based on what has happened before, clearly there’s no question that the casualty rate is going to be rather exponential,” he said.

The Taliban government has appealed for assistance from the international community and the humanitarian sector, but help for Afghanistan is in short supply due to competing global crises and reduced aid budgets in donor countries. The U.K. has pledged £1 million to be split between humanitarian agencies, while the European Union is sending 130 tons of emergency supplies and providing 1 million euros in aid.

However, earthquake victims are bearing the brunt of opposition to the Taliban government, especially their restrictive policies on Afghan girls and women, including a ban on them working for NGOs. Donor countries had already scaled back their funding, and the U.S. gutted aid to Afghanistan earlier this year, partly due to concerns that money was going to the Taliban administration.

Kate Carey, the deputy head of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Afghanistan, said more than 420 health facilities had closed or were suspended due to the “massive reduction” in funding, with 80 of them in the eastern region, the heart of Sunday’s quake. “The consequence is that the remaining facilities are overwhelmed, have insufficient supplies and personnel, and are not as close to the affected populations as the more local facilities at a time when providing emergency trauma care is needed in the first 24 to 72 hours of the earthquake response,” Carey said.