After deadly earthquake, Afghanistan braces for cholera outbreak

A strong earthquake in Afghanistan‘s eastern provinces earlier this month killed more than 1,000 people and injured many more. The Taliban-controlled nation now expects things to get worse as authorities predicted an outbreak of cholera and other diseases.

With dwindling infrastructure and a faltering economy, Afghanistan’s ministry of health said on Sunday that the country is in need of clean water and food and is at risk of a disease outbreak. United Nations’ humanitarian office had warned about a possible cholera outbreak just days before.

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Sharafat Zaman, the spokesperson for Afghanistan’s ministry of health, said in a statement on Sunday, “The people are extremely needy for food and clean water.” He added that Afghanistan was also short on medicines, according to CNN reports.

“We ask the international community, humanitarian organizations to help us for food and medicine, the survivors might catch diseases because they do not have proper houses and shelters for living”, Zaman added.

Multiple countries have already sent humanitarian aid to Afghanistan after the deadly earthquake, which also destroyed more than 10,000 homes. 

Aware of its constraints, the cash-strapped Taliban have called for foreign assistance and on Saturday appealed to Washington to unfreeze billions of dollars in Afghanistan’s currency reserves, Associated Press reported.

Nearly $7.5 million of emergency humanitarian aid was sanctioned by China days after the deadly earthquake. Other countries that have joined efforts for humanitarian assistance include Iran, Pakistan, South Korea, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and India.

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Around half the country’s 39 million people are facing life-threatening levels of food insecurity because of poverty. Most civil servants, including doctors, nurses and teachers, have not been paid for months, Associated Press reported.

Reeling from war and impoverished long before the Taliban takeover, the far-flung areas hit by last Wednesday’s earthquake are particularly ill-equipped to cope.