Aid Workers Race Against Clock After Earthquake In Afghanistan

(MENAFN- Swissinfo) Strained by crisis and international isolation, Afghanistan was rocked by a deadly earthquake earlier this month. As winter approaches, humanitarian organisations are running out of resources and are struggling to reach victims, particularly women. This content was published on September 17, 2025 - 09:00 5 minutes

Based in Geneva, I cover the work of the United Nations and other international organisations there. My focus is on humanitarian aid, human rights, and peace diplomacy. I studied business and economics at the University of Lausanne before training as a journalist and joining SWI swissinfo in 2021.

• More from this auth
• French Departme

• Deutsch de Erdbeben in Afghanistan: Die Helfer kämpfen gegen die Zeit Read more: Erdbeben in Afghanistan: Die Helfer kämpfen gegen die Zei
• Français fr Séisme en Afghanistan: les humanitaires se battent contre la montre Original Read more: Séisme en Afghanistan: les humanitaires se battent contre la montr

On the night of August 31 to September 1, Afghanistan – already in the grip of a serious humanitarian crisis – was hit by an earthquake measuring 6 on the Richter scale. This hit remote areas of the mountainous provinces in the east of the country hard.

Some 2,200 Afghan men and women lost their lives and 3,640 others were injured, according to the death toll relayed by the United Nations. The figure could rise further.

“The needs are immense,” said Achille Després, spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which has been in the country for several days.“Hospitals are overwhelmed and receiving very serious cases. I saw this at the hospital in Jalalabad. These are very remote regions, very difficult to access. I saw villages where not a single house was left standing.”

The earthquake caused extensive damage to infrastructure, destroying roads, bridges, clinics, schools and more than 6,700 homes, according to the UN.

Access is difficult. EPA/AIMAL ZAHIR Race against the clock

Humanitarian organisations stress that they are in a race against time as the harsh winter weather approaches.

“It's hard to believe, because it's still 35°C, but in a few weeks temperatures in the mountains will drop, and then the snow will arrive,” Després said.

But reaching the worst-hit communities is extremely difficult. Many access roads have become impassable, and recent heavy rains have made the ground unstable and caused landslides. Added to this is the risk of anti-personnel mines and other explosive devices buried in the ground as a result of the conflicts displaced by the earthquake.

“There have been more aftershocks in recent days. People are traumatised. They're afraid of going back near their old homes and being crushed,” says Després, who points out that camps for displaced people have formed.“We need to provide them with shelter, water, food, portable toilets, sanitary products and so on,” he stresses.

Camps for displaced people have sprung up in the Afghan mountains. EPA/AIMAL ZAHIR An already precarious situation

Indrika Ratwatte, the UN's humanitarian coordinator in Afghanistan, told journalists based in Geneva that the disaster had occurred“at a time when Afghan communities are suffering other shocks”, including the return of more than a million Afghan men and women expelled from Pakistan and Iran, and a terrible drought.

The United Nations has launched an emergency plan to help 457,000 of the 500,000 people in the affected areas. With a budget of some $140 million (CHF110 million) for the end of the year, it should cover their needs in terms of health, food, shelter and hygiene.

“The situation is critical,” Ratwatte said, calling for a rapid mobilisation of international donors.“We're at a tipping point.”

Lack of funding

Afghanistan has been ravaged by 40 years of war. The country is now plunged into deep poverty, is suffering the full effects of climate change, including droughts and floods, and has experienced several earthquakes in recent years.

While some 24 million people – more than half of Afghanistan's population – depend on humanitarian aid, funding from the international community is struggling to keep up, leading to the closure of aid organisations on the ground.

“The budget cuts have been dramatic for Afghanistan. We lost more than 35% of the resources we had last year,” Ratwatte said, citing the loss of contributions from the United States and other countries.“This affects the ability of the UN and its partners to reach communities.”

The UN-coordinated $45.5 billion humanitarian response plan for 2025 is currently only 19% funded, down from 50% at the end of 2024.

Concern for women

The plight of women and girls in this country, where the Taliban authorities advocate ultraconservative Islamism, is a concern for humanitarian organisations, which emphasise their vulnerability.

“We try to have at least one woman in each team, but it's not always possible at the moment,” says Ratwatte, referring to the difficult operating conditions and the“restrictions imposed on female NGO and UN staff”.

Since their return to power in August 2021, the Taliban have gradually restricted the freedoms of Afghan women, first depriving them of education and then of work with humanitarian organisations. In the most conservative regions, it is unthinkable for a male aid worker to look after a woman.

For its part, the Afghan Red Crescent says it has been able to deploy 14 mixed medical teams, including around 20 women, in the disaster area.“In these isolated mountainous regions, where the terrain and social norms restrict movement, these teams are often the only source of care available to women,” Homa Nader, deputy head of the Afghanistan delegation of the International Federation of Red Cross Societies (IFRC), told a press conference.

According to the New York TimesExternal link , some women who were injured or trapped under the rubble were not rescued by the men.

Edited by Virginie Mangin/sj. Translated from French by DeepL/ts

External Content Your subscription could not be saved. Please try again. Almost finished... We need to confirm your email address. To complete the subscription process, please click the link in the email we just sent you. Inside Geneva: international affairs from the world's humanitarian capital

Our newsletter offers a unique insight into what is happening in International Geneva: What debates are taking center stage? How can the UN impact world affairs and what are NGO's saying?

Bi-monthly

The SBC Privacy Policy provides additional information on how your data is processed.

I consent to the use of my data for the SWI swissinfo newsletter.

Popular Stories More Swiss Politics Will Switzerland finally do away with imputed rental-value tax on homeowners? Read more: Will Switzerland finally do away with imputed rental-value tax on homeowners

MENAFN17092025000210011054ID1110072740