JAKARTA: Indonesian NGO Medical Emergency Rescue Committee has sent a medical team to Afghanistan’s Kunar province to assist Afghans who were injured by the deadly earthquake that devastated the region late last month.
On Aug. 31, a 6.0 magnitude quake struck late at night in the mountainous region, killing nearly 2,000 people, flattening villages and leaving people trapped under rubble for hours.
The powerful tremors, which were followed by a few more strong quakes in the days that followed, hit the densely populated rural areas of Kunar, Nangarhar and Laghman provinces, injuring more than 3,600 people and leaving thousands of others homeless.
The MER-C team consists of female doctors Tonggo Meaty Fransisca and Citra Haflinda Prihatiningrum, and nurse Wirsal Adiansyah Harahap. They are accompanied by journalist Andhika Pamungkas. The team departed Jakarta earlier this week and will be in Afghanistan until Oct. 9.
“MER-C’s team will carry out a mission in Kunar, eastern Afghanistan. This mission is to provide medical services and food assistance to earthquake-affected communities in Kunar,” Fransisca said in a video statement.
MER-C, which is based in Jakarta, has also prepared medicine for around 500 people, which they will deliver to several villages across Kunar.
The mission is part of an effort to boost humanitarian assistance for Afghans, said Dr. Hadiki Habib, chairman of MER-C’s executive committee.
“The earthquake disaster in Afghanistan has had a major health and social impact, but humanitarian support from the international community appears inadequate for the people there,” he told Arab News.
More than 3,000 families remain displaced because of the earthquakes, which have destroyed or damaged more than 8,400 homes, according to data from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, which also stated that only around $23.7 million in lifesaving aid has been received in response to the disaster, around $115 million less than is needed.
