The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) says recent devastating earthquakes in northern Afghanistan have further deepened the country’s already dire humanitarian crisis, compounding the effects of economic hardship, drought, and ongoing instability.
Regis Savioz, the ICRC’s regional director for Asia and the Pacific, said in a post on X on Wednesday (November 5) that Afghanistan has suffered two destructive earthquakes in less than two months.
“This time, families work in the night to collapsing homes and the loss of everything they knew,” Savioz said. The destruction deepens hardship amid economic struggles, drought, and an ongoing humanitarian crisis.”
According to the World Health Organization, at least 26 people – including 18 men and eight women – were killed and more than 1,140 others injured after a 6.3-magnitude earthquake struck late Sunday night (November 3) in northern Afghanistan. The epicenter was located in Khulm district of Samangan province.
The Red Cross teams, together with the Afghan Red Crescent Society, are providing emergency relief and medical supplies to effected communities and hospitals in Balkh, Kunduz, and Samangan provinces.
The quake struck less than two months after another deadly earthquake in eastern Afghanistan that claimed nearly 2,000 lives and left more than 3,000 people injured.
Afghanistan, already battered by years of conflicts, economic collapse, and extreme weather, remains one of the world’s most vulnerable countries to natural disasters.
