Tens of Millions of People Threatened with Food Shortages, WFP Calls the Afghanistan Earthquake a Disaster on Top of Disasters

The impact of earth echoes in Herat Afghanistan on October 7, 2023. (Wikimedia Commons/Voice of America)

JAKARTA - Tens of millions of people are threatened with food shortages, the World Food Program calls the Afghanistan earthquake a disaster on top of disasters, urging the international community to provide humanitarian assistance.

Limited aid has made relief efforts difficult after an earthquake and aftershocks since Saturday rocked the country. The Taliban-controlled government said at least 2,400 people were killed and more than 2,000 injured as a result of the disaster.

"In Afghanistan, this is a disaster on top of a disaster, on top of a disaster, on top of a disaster," said Philippe Kropf, head of communications for the World Food Program (WFP) Afghanistan, as reported by Reuters, October 12.

"We have 50 million people who don't know where their next meal will come from. The World Food Program is only able to support 3 million people, due to a huge lack of funds," continued Kropf in the earthquake-hit province of Herat.

"All the houses were flattened and the health center was reduced to rubble," he added.

Kropf further explained that the WFP is initially providing 2,100 kilocalories per day for each family of seven people for a month, and may consider other forms of assistance such as cash in the coming weeks.

To combat malnutrition, they have distributed high-energy biscuits and special peanut butter.

"Breastfeeding women are among the most vulnerable, as are children and pregnant women. If we can help them prevent malnutrition, that's how we do it, because preventing malnutrition is much cheaper than treating malnutrition," he explained.

Two-thirds of the injured in Afghanistan are women and children, said Dr. Alaa AbouZeid, head of the World Health Organization (WHO) emergency response in the country on Monday.

It is known that Afghanistan's health service system, which is almost entirely dependent on foreign aid, has experienced cuts since the Taliban took power. In addition, much international aid, which is the backbone of Afghanistan's economy, has been stopped.

Not only that, the UN and humanitarian agencies also reduced the planned aid budget for Afghanistan in 2023 to 3.2 billion US dollars from 4.6 billion US dollars at the start of the year, after the Taliban restricted female aid workers.

The WFP has also cut rations and cash assistance for Afghanistan this year from the original eight million people.