According to official news outlet WAM, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Friday sent 38 tonnes of food and medical supplies to families in Afghanistan affected by the recent earthquake in that nation.
Just over a week ago, an earthquake with a magnitude of 6.5 struck Afghanistan and Pakistan, leaving at least 13 persons dead and more than 90 injured.
The delivery of these goods “is part of the UAE’s ongoing efforts to enhance humanitarian support for vulnerable groups such as women, children, and the elderly, and to provide urgent relief to countries affected by natural disasters,” WAM said on Friday evening.
According to the US Geological Survey at the time, the epicentre of the earthquake was in the Hindu Kush mountains, in the thinly populated northeastern Afghan province of Badakhshan, 40 km (25 miles) southeast of Jurm village, at a significant depth of 187 km (116 miles).
According to the European-Mediterranean Seismological Center, the earthquake was felt by about 285 million people in Pakistan, India, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Afghanistan, and Turkmenistan over a region more than 1,000 kilometres (621 miles) wide.
After a second earthquake hit Khost in southeast Afghanistan in June of last year, the UAE constructed a 1,000 square metre field hospital with 75 beds that could treat up to 200 patients daily, according to WAM.
According to WAM, the UAE sent 28 aircraft with 623 tonnes of food and medical provisions to the nation between 2021 and 2022.
Around 1.1 million people, including 850,000 women and children, benefited from this assistance.
