Since the initial earthquake on Sunday in eastern Nangarhar province, landslides and several strong aftershocks have disrupted the work of rescue teams.
In an update, the UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF, said that access routes remain blocked in various locations including the districts of Chawkay and Nurgal, both in Kunar province, although the authorities have deployed earth-moving machinery to restore access.
Latest estimates indicate that approximately half a million people have been affected – including 263,000 children – while at least 5,000 homes have suffered partial or total damage.
Tremors continue
Among the UN agencies operating there, UN Habitat noted that the earthquake had caused massive upheaval in a remote region where recent returnees from Pakistan and Iran were just beginning to settle.
“There are still more earthquakes every day in the region, causing landslides and making access even harder,” said UN Habitat’s Stephanie Loose in the capital, Kabul.
She noted that women and girls were the main victims because of strict rules preventing them from leaving their homes alone.
“Many of them, due to cultural norms or restrictions imposed, didn’t dare to leave their houses; nor are there sufficient female doctors in the country, and I understand they are not able to reach the women who would need it,” Ms. Loose said.
Papua New Guinea’s on the frontline of climate change, warns Guterres
Papua New Guinea and the Pacific islands are climate change’s “Ground Zero” whose precious rain forests and ecosystems deserve the world’s support to ensure they’re protected, the UN Secretary-General said on Thursday.
Speaking from Papua New Guinea where he visited the world’s third largest rainforest and sat down with civil society representatives, António Guterres highlighted the challenges brought about by climate change in the region.
It’s the first ever visit to the southwest Pacific nation by a sitting Secretary-General.
Earlier, he repeated his warning that the 1.5 degree limit on the rise in global temperatures agreed to under the 2015 Paris Agreement remains in jeopardy.
And although scientists say that it is still possible to limit global warming, the UN chief urged countries to unveil their new national climate plans to reduce emissions and “seize the opportunities” arising from the renewable energy revolution.
New Ebola outbreak declared in DR Congo
Health authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have declared an outbreak of Ebola virus disease in Kasai province where 28 suspected cases and 15 deaths – including four health workers – have been reported as of Thursday.
The outbreak is concentrated in the Bulape and Mweka health zones in Kasai Province, in the south-central region of DRC. Symptoms of the rare – but severe – and often fatal illness, include fever, vomiting, diarrhoea and haemorrhaging.
Samples tested on 3 September at the country’s National Institute of Biomedical Research in the capital Kinshasa confirmed the cause of the outbreak as the Ebola Zaire strain.
Experts deployed
A national Rapid Response Team assisted by UN World Health Organization (WHO) experts in epidemiology, infection prevention and control – as well as case management – has been deployed to Kasai province.
Communication experts have also been deployed to reach communities and help them understand how to protect themselves.
Additionally, WHO is delivering two tonnes of supplies including personal protective equipment, mobile laboratory equipment and medical supplies.
The area is difficult to reach and at least a day’s drive from the provincial capital Tshikapa, with few air links.
“We’re acting with determination to rapidly halt the spread of the virus and protect communities,” said Dr Mohamed Janabi, WHO Regional Director for Africa.
“Banking on the country’s long-standing expertise in controlling viral disease outbreaks, we’re working closely with the health authorities to quickly scale up key response measures to end the outbreak as soon as possible.”
Cases likely to rise
Case numbers are likely to increase as transmission is ongoing.
The country has a stockpile of treatments, as well as 2,000 doses of the Ervebo Ebola vaccine already prepositioned in the capital city Kinshasa that will be quickly moved to Kasai to vaccinate contacts and frontline health workers.
The DRC’s last outbreak affected the northwestern Equateur province in April 2022.
It was brought under control in under three months thanks to the robust efforts of the health authorities. In Kasai province, previous outbreaks of Ebola virus disease were reported in 2007 and 2008. In the country overall, there have been 15 outbreaks since the disease was first identified in 1976.
UN condemns attack on peacekeepers in South Sudan
The UN peacekeeping mission in South Sudan, UNMISS, has condemned an attack by a local armed group which targeted “blue helmets” in Western Equatoria state.
The militants subsequently seized a small cache of weapons and ammunition. The incident occurred while peacekeepers were conducting a patrol between Tambura and Mapuse.
“We emphasise that any attack against peacekeepers may constitute a war crime,” UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said at the daily press briefing in New York on Thursday.
“These peacekeepers are deployed to protect civilians at a time when access and security remain fragile across Western Equatoria,” he added.
Meanwhile, widespread flooding is also impacting hundreds of thousands of people in several parts of the world’s youngest nation, which became embroiled in civil war soon after gaining independence in 2011.
A fragile 2018 peace accord is in danger of unravelling amid fresh offensives and deteriorating humanitarian conditions.
Flooding affects 270,000
Local reports suggest that over 270,000 people are affected by flooding in 12 counties across four states.
These areas were already grappling with floods, displacement, food security and cholera, said Mr. Dujarric, with farmland, homes and humanitarian facilities now submerged, disrupting access to education, health, nutrition and water services.
UN humanitarians say overcrowding at relocation sites has led to tensions among displaced families at the same time, reports of waterborne diseases and snake bites are increasing public health risks.
Peacekeepers serving with the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) have increased their presence and intensified vehicle patrols, navigating treacherous, rain-soaked routes both day and night.
