Taliban asks for aid to be “scaled up” following Afghanistan earthquake

The Taliban have asked for further aid following the 6.1 magnitude earthquake that struck southeastern Afghanistan on Wednesday, June 22.

Following the earthquake, a senior official for the Taliban said that the government of Afghanistan “appreciated and welcomed”  all the help that had been promised by governments and organisations such as the Red Cross and Medecines Sans Frontiers, but more aid was needed, as reported by The Guardian.

Abdul Qahar Balkhi stated: “The government sadly is under sanctions so it is financially unable to assist the people to the extent that is needed.” 

“The assistance needs to be scaled up to a very large extent because this is a devastating earthquake which hasn’t been experienced in decades.”

The United Nations secretary-general, António Guterres, stated that the global agency had “fully mobilised” to help, with UN officials confirming that health teams and supplies of medicine, food, trauma kits and emergency shelter had been deployed to the quake zone.

Officials from the Afghan emergency services released that at least a thousand people have been killed following the 6.1 magnitude earthquake that struck southeastern Afghanistan on Wednesday, June 22.

More than 1,500 people have been injured.

At around 11.25 am on the day of the incident, it was reported that at least 920 people had died following the quake, which hit around 44 km from the city of Khost in southeastern Afghanistan at a depth of 51 km.

Thank you for taking the time to read this article, do remember to come back and check The Euro Weekly News website for all your up-to-date local and international news stories and remember, you can also follow us on Facebook and Instagram.