Afghanistan earthquake ‘could worsen country’s refugee crisis’ ...Middle East

The 6.0-magnitude earthquake which hit Afghanistan this weekend threatens to further destabilise the country and exacerbate its refugee crisis, aid workers have said.

More than 800 people were killed and at least a thousand injured after the earthquake struck the east of the country just before midnight local time on Sunday.

Entire villages have been wiped out by the quake, humanitarian workers said, with road damage cutting off many communities from emergency services.

The extensive building damage will force many to leave their homes, potentially exacerbating volatile population movement in recent years, experts said.

Afghanistan has experienced a surge in internal displacement since the Taliban seized control in August 2021, prompting 2.5 million people to flee the country.

Nearly two million people have returned from neighbouring Pakistan and Iran this year alone, after those governments launched forced “repatriation” plans and deportation programmes.

Host to millions Afghan refugees since decades, Pakistan launched its repatriation scheme in late 2023. It had set 1 September as a deadline for another round of deportations – which have been criticised by humanitarian agencies including the UNHCR.

Islamic Relief, an international humanitarian organisation which has deployed emergency health specialists to the area, said that the disaster was “looking increasingly horrific” and extensive building damage meant that “displacement is now a major concern”.

“Houses and infrastructure like latrines have been destroyed. As the emergency health needs are treated, shelter, and sanitation are expected to become priorities for authorities and aid agencies to respond to, as thousands are driven from their homes,” the body said.

Ibrahim Ahmed Alhomadi, the organisation’s head of programmes in Afghanistan, said the quake had “wiped out entire villages” and that families had “fled in panic to try and find safety.”

“Entire villages have been turned into mud and rubble in Kunar,” Alhomadi said.

“The affected areas are remote, rural and mountainous, and landslides and floods make it even harder to reach them. These are poor villages and many of the homes are made from mud or flimsy materials that completely collapsed.”

The aid response is also being hampered by severe flooding that swept through Kunar and neighbouring Nangarhar provinces in the two days before the earthquake, Islamic Relief said.

In the week prior to the earthquake, nearly 26,000 people returned to Afghanistan from countries including Pakistan and Iran, UN figures show.

Nangarhar, one of the provinces worst hit by the earthquake, was the second most common place for them to return to.

Jeremy Smith, Afghanistan country manager at the British Red Cross, which is responding to the crisis, said that further displacement could complicate recovery efforts.

“Many survivors will be unable to return to homes and livelihoods that have been severely damaged,” Smith said.

“With recent returns from Pakistan already placing pressure on local services, there is a real risk that further displacement, especially from rural to urban areas, could strain infrastructure and deepen existing vulnerabilities.”

Dr Nuni Jorgensen, a researcher at the University of Oxford’s Migration Observatory, said that the earthquake was likely to cause people to move both within Afghanistan and to nearby countries, such as Iran and Pakistan.

“This is because the people most affected are likely to be poor and may not have the means to move further away,” she said.

“However, depending on the scale of the earthquake, it could trigger wider economic effects, which in turn might indirectly lead some people to migrate to more distant countries in the medium or long term. This is especially relevant in a country like Afghanistan, which has such a large diaspora.”

Around 37,000 Afghans have been resettled in the UK under a British government scheme since 2021, while thousands have arrived on small boats.

The earthquake is the latest crisis to hit Afghanistan, which has been suffering from widespread drought leaving people “struggling to cope”, Islamic Relief said.

Global aid cuts have forced health facilities and nutrition centres to close, and services in the country are overwhelmed by the massive influx of returnees, the organisation said.

Sherine Ibrahim, Afghanistan director of the International Rescue Committee, said the organisation was “profoundly fearful for what this disaster means for the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, particularly as global funding cuts have taken hold”.

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“Global funding cuts have dramatically hampered our ability to respond to the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan,” she said.

Ibrahim said the quake was likely to “dwarf the scale” of the humanitarian needs caused by the Herat earthquakes of 2023, which killed 1,500 people, wiped 2.2 per cent off Afghanistan’s GDP and caused $250m damage to buildings.

“The needs from this earthquake will be immense and long-lasting, spanning healthcare, shelter, and economic recovery and development.

“Following decades of conflict, climate change and humanitarian crises, the earthquake adds another layer of suffering to the already vulnerable people of Afghanistan.”

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