A UNICEF-UN Children's Fund representative, who is working to support an earthquake that killed more than 1,000 people in eastern Afghanistan, told NHK that infrastructure such as water services was destroyed in the disaster area and the sanitary environment deteriorated, resulting in infectious diseases. He expressed a sense of crisis that there was growing concern about the spread.
Afghanistan suffered a magnitude 5.9 earthquake on the 22nd of this month, with an epicenter in the eastern host state, killing at least 1040 people and injuring more than 1,600 in Paktika, which is adjacent to the host state, according to local authorities. It means that it is.
UNICEF has been supporting the disaster area immediately after the earthquake, and the video taken by the staff in Pactica on the 23rd shows that the residents are cleaning up the broken house and lost the house. You can see children moving to the tent and children who are injured and receive medical treatment at the hospital.
Samantha Mote, a spokeswoman for the UNICEF Afghanistan office, told NHK on the 27th, "I am very concerned that water and sewage facilities have been destroyed by the earthquake in the disaster area and that infectious diseases will spread. We are working to prevent the epidemic of diarrhea and cholera. "
She added, she said, "There are a lot of children who have lost their families in the disaster area. We are sending specialists to the site to deal with the injured children," she said. He revealed that he is focusing on mental care.
She also called for cooperation from the international community, saying that she will need long-term reconstruction assistance for the Afghan people to rebuild their lives in the future.