STAFF ACCOUNT: One year after the Afghanistan earthquake- “Families fear they will be forgotten”

When I talk to families, it’s like it’s still the first day after the earthquake. They tell me through tears how they lost their families, their wives, two, three, four children. 

They are still in shock. We try to convince them to be strong, but it’s heartbreaking to see so many people with so many needs.

One year on from the earthquake that stole everything from thousands of people, communities have not recovered. Living in tents or in the ruins of villages, relying on humanitarian aid and having little access to ways to generate income, are constant reminders of the horror of losing everything.

Everything and everyone was affected by the massive quake. I’ve been a humanitarian worker for years, but this was the first time I ever faced such a devastating event. 

Nobody expected it.

The narrow mountain roads were blocked by landslides; homes were flattened and continuous aftershocks caused terror. Livelihoods reliant on agriculture and livestock were decimated. I’m from Kunar, and I’d never seen anything like this before.

With more than 8,000 homes destroyed or damaged, families had little choice but to leave their villages and move into tents. Imagine being a child in a tent during a 40°C summer, or during the winter when temperatures plummet to below freezing and the weight of snow causes tarpaulin shelters to collapse. This has been the reality for thousands of children for the last year.

The earthquake was only the first emergency families faced in the last year. After the harsh winter, conflict between Afghanistan and Pakistan forced many to leave camps. Then came flash floods, driving them once again to find new places to set up shelters.
Displacement after displacement means children don’t have access to clean drinking water. 

They can’t go to school and spend their days in tents.

For women and girls, displacement means additional challenges. Temporary settlements provide little privacy. They have restricted access to essential services, such as healthcare, and many take on increased caregiving responsibilities as relatives look for work.

I met a family who told me they had lost their home in the earthquake and moved into a camp but then had to leave due to conflict.

The place they moved to was hit by a flash flood, washing away their belongings including mattresses, blankets and cooking equipment. The place where I met them was at risk of further flooding. They couldn’t return to the camp and their house was destroyed by the earthquake. They told me, “We don’t know where to go”.

Eastern Afghanistan has been hit by compounding crises in the last year as funding shortfalls limit humanitarian organisations ability to respond.

The earthquake-devastated areas are also now home for families returning from Pakistan. I recently walked for about two hours to a village where around 500 families had moved back to rebuild their lives, and about 160 of those families had recently crossed from Pakistan. 

They told me that their homes were damaged but hadn’t received a single tent and couldn’t find any work. These new returnees are also using the same limited resources as the earthquake-affected families, so a water source for that was only enough for four families now supports eight or nine.  

About 3,600 homes have been, or will be, repaired or rebuilt under current plans. That’s less than half of what’s needed. Thousands of families have gone back to their villages, even if their homes are still damaged. There is still so much work to do to support them to rebuild their lives.

So far, not a single damaged or destroyed school has been reconstructed. Not one out of more than 100 schools. We are providing education in temporary learning spaces for 5,000 children, but this isn’t a long-term solution.

Damaged schools and ruined homes are still visible reminders to families of how much they lost in the earthquake, yet one year on, families fear they will be forgotten. 

We cannot allow that to happen.