Afghanistan Earthquake Kills Mostly Women and Children

More than 90 percent of the people killed by a 6.3-magnitude earthquake in western Afghanistan last weekend were women and children, U.N. officials reported Thursday.

The Quake

The epicenter was in Zenda Jan district, where 1,294 people died, 1,688 were injured and every home was destroyed, according to U.N. figures. Siddig Ibrahim, the chief of the UNICEF field office in Herat, said women and children were more likely to have been at home when the quake struck in the morning.

The Afghanistan representative for the United Nations Population Fund, Jaime Nadal, said there would have been no "gender dimension" to the death toll if the quake had happened at night.

The Destruction

The initial quake, numerous aftershocks, and a second 6.3-magnitude quake on Wednesday flattened entire villages, destroying hundreds of mud-brick homes that could not withstand such force. Schools, health clinics, and other village facilities also collapsed.

The Norwegian Refugee Council described the devastation as enormous. The maternity hospital in Herat province has cracks that make the structure unsafe. The U.N. has provided tents so pregnant women have somewhere to stay and receive care, Nadal said.

The Response

U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said the world body also has provided ambulances to a regional hospital and distributed solar lamps, hygiene kits, and other aid to hundreds of displaced families. The World Food Program is sending over 81 tons of food, Dujarric said at U.N. headquarters Thursday.

Many people inside and outside Herats provincial capital are still sleeping outside, even as temperatures drop.

The Impact on Women and Children

The disproportionate impact of the quake on women has left children without mothers, their primary caregivers, raising questions about who will raise them or how to reunite them with fathers who might be out of the province or Afghanistan.

Aid officials say orphanages are non-existent or rare, meaning children who have lost one or both parents were likely to be taken in by surviving relatives or community members.

The Challenges

Earthquakes are common in Afghanistan, where there are a number of fault lines and frequent movement among three nearby tectonic plates. Women may be at risk of not getting information on earthquake preparedness because of Taliban edicts curtailing their mobility and rights, and restrictions imposed on female humanitarian workers, a U.N. report has warned.

Authorities have barred girls from school beyond sixth grade and stopped women from working at non-governmental groups, although there are exceptions for some sectors like health care. The Taliban also says that women cannot travel long distances without male chaperones.

Aid agencies say their female Afghan staff members are "for now" working freely in Herat and reaching women and girls affected by the earthquake. UNICEF has launched a USD 20 million appeal to help the estimate 13,000 children and families devastated by the earthquake.