Afghanistan: Earthquake Response Situation Report No. 4 (31 October 2022)

This report is produced by OCHA Afghanistan in collaboration with humanitarian partners. This will be the last SitRep owing to the completion of the emergency response phase on 30 September. It covers the period from beginning of the response to 30 September 2022.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Overall, humanitarian partners reached more than 515,000 people with at least one form of humanitarian assistance in response to June’s devastating earthquake in the south-eastern region. This includes support to 203,000 people with health services; 125,000 people with food and agricultural support; 99,000 people with emergency shelter and non-food items (NFIs); 98,000 with multi-purpose cash assistance (MPCA), 75,000 with protection; and 7,000 each with nutrition, and education. A further 410,000 people have received blanket WASH assistance – soap & chlorine tabs – as part of measures to prevent spread of Acute Watery Diarrhea (AWD).

• The Joint Assessment Teams (JATs) assessed around 200,000 people (over 29,000 families) across nine earthquakes affected districts in three provinces. Over 100,000 people were identified for emergency humanitarian assistance in Shamal (1,141), Spera (40,796) and Tani (3,360) districts in Khost province; Barmal (14,854), Giyan (36,232), Neka (77), Urgun (7) and Ziruk (4,060) in Paktika province; and Waza Zadran (14) in Paktya province.

• Early recovery initiatives commenced last month, and sectoral and technical assessments are underway. To advance on shelter reconstruction given the fast-approaching winter, accelerated work is in progress. The ongoing technical support to the ES/NFI cluster partners by Miyamoto International on vernacular architecture with a special focus on shelter repairs is expected to further expedite works. Finding skilled and unskilled labour locally is one of the major challenges and shelter partners are having to bringing in labourers from outside which is costly and time consuming.
The suspension of shelter reconstruction by the de-facto authorities in Giyan district in Paktika province led to a delay in shelter reconstruction activities in that location.

SITUATION OVERVIEW

The IOM led joint assessment in all earthquake-affected areas has been completed. Various partners, including WSTA/UNHCR, IDS/WFP, CTG/UNICEF, ASHIANA/UNICEF, IMC/UNICEF, WHO, CARE, IRC, NRC, DACAAR, CWW, and CWSA, took part in this exercise with 76 staff members, 17 per cent of them female. Of the total identified caseload for emergency humanitarian assistance (over 100,000 people), around 18 per cent were among the most vulnerable, including female headed households, those with severe disabilities, the chronically ill, unaccompanied minors and elderly people, and families with more than eight members.
The majority of those identified received emergency humanitarian assistance packages consisting of. emergency shelter (tents and tarpaulins), in-kind food, multi-purpose cash assistance, and hygiene kits. Distributions mainly took place at the humanitarian hubs using beneficiary lists developed by IOM and which were shared with implementing partners according to strict data protection protocols. Through local partners, UNHCR introduced the complaints mechanism “Awaaz” to collect feedback of the affected community about the earthquake humanitarian response.
The assessment found that of the 14,766 houses affected by the earthquake, 33 percent required reconstruction as they had been destroyed, 57 per cent are repairable while 10 per cent of undercover living spaces are still habitable. With technical support from Miyamoto International, shelter partners have planned to cover 100 per cent of shelter needs before the upcoming winter – subject to available resources. However, the suspension of the shelter reconstruction by the de-facto authorities delayed the start of shelter reconstruction activities in Giyan district in Paktika province.
Around 1.2 million people have received water treatment products (i.e. chlorine tabs), soap, hygiene promotion messages and awareness session as part of measures to prevent the spread of AWD. WASH partners have started the construction of 23 new water supply schemes and rehabilitation of 23 existing boreholes. Around 3,000 latrines are under construction and WASH partners, in coordination with ES/NFI cluster, are planning to construct latrines and provide safe drinking water in the villages where shelter reconstruction and repair work is underway.
The Integrated Phase Classification (IPC) classified the earthquake affected provinces as phase 3 (crisis) & 4 (emergency) where around half of the population are estimated to be food insecure. Around 112,000 people have been assisted with emergency food assistance. All earthquake-affected districts have been considered in the 2022 winter prioritization exercise. Early action is required as assistance during the winter will be challenge due to limited road access.
More than 20 health partners are active in all the earthquake-affected areas and have reached 203,000 people through mobile and fixed health teams. The Health Cluster is working with partners to ensure necessary supplies, enhance surveillance, pre-position medical and non-medical items for AWD treatment, setting-up Oral Rehydration Therapy (ORT) corners and isolation beds at the hospitals and Cholera Treatment Centers (CHCs), and strengthening of Risk Communication & Community Engagement (RCCE) activities in affected areas. Due to poor health infrastructure & limited access during upcoming winter, continuity of current health services will be a challenge.
The earthquake had a devasting impact on children and their families and there is a huge need for continued psychosocial support. More than 75,000 children and caregivers have been reached with primary and life-saving protection intervention and over 9,000 women and girls received life-saving information and services on women's protection and health. The duration of support was short-term and most identified caseloads require long-term assistance and finding partners and other funding sources remains a challenge.
Besides the earthquake, the affected areas have been historically underserved with around 30,000 school aged children in need of education. UNICEF has established 140 Community-Based Education (CBE) and assessed 17 schools and one Madrassa for renovation. The extreme lack of educational facilities in these areas even prior to the earthquake cannot be remedied by humanitarian action alone and requires longer-term and more sustainable interventions.
Three humanitarian hubs in District Spera, Barmal, and Giyan are working 24/7 to provide office space, accommodation, meals, electricity, and internet services with regular UNHAS flights (adapted to the demand) to the humanitarian partners present with emergency relief & rehabilitation activities. The Humanitarian Country Team will close the hubs by mid-November. The area Coordinator for the earthquake response, in coordination with partners/clusters, has developed a transition strategy to accommodate NGOs and projects which will continue beyond October 2022.
With the emergency response phase over, the earthquake area hub coordination have gone back to their regular Operational Coordination Team (OCT) meetings since the beginning of October 2022. However, the key decentralized clusters i.e. ES/NFI, Health, WASH, Education, and Protection will continue to meet regularly.