CARE Is Ready with Resources To Help Earthquake Survivors in Northern Afghanistan

CARE
Tuesday, 26 March 2002

CARE is at the ready with resources to help the survivors of an earthquake in northern Afghanistan.

"We have 10,000 blankets and shawls, 400 tents, as well as other supplies ready to go," says Sally Austin, assistant country director for CARE in Afghanistan. "Our main office in the United States also has made $50,000 immediately available for emergency activities. CARE is coordinating with other humanitarian agencies on how to best mobilize resources and deliver assistance most effectively to the region."

Supplies from Kabul could take at least 15 hours by road to reach the area because of debris blocking roads, whereas offices and supply depots in northern Afghanistan will be more accessible.

Afghan authorities reported that Monday's earthquake killed approximately 1,800 people and injured 2,000 more in the province of Baghlan. The quake also left an estimated 10,000 people homeless. The U.S. Geological Survey in Golden, Colorado said the quake measured a magnitude of 5.0 and was centered 105 miles (175 km) north of Kabul in the Hindu Kush mountains. Aftershocks were still rumbling across the region on Tuesday.

The area is home to approximately 82,000 people who already have been severely affected by the country's drought, now in its fourth year, and food shortages. Afghan authorities have allocated $600,000 for immediate assistance.

Afghanistan is prone to earthquakes -- a 7.2 magnitude quake in the Hindu Kush mountains on March 3 this year killed more than 100 people. An earthquake in 1999 in the southeastern provinces of Wardak and Logar damaged the houses of approximately 100,000 people (18,500 families). CARE assisted survivors of that quake with food and shelter, as well as aid to rebuild their homes and the surrounding infrastructure.

For more information, or to contact CARE, see their website at: www.care.org