UN calls for $15m in urgent Afghanistan aid after deadly earthquake


Willy Lowry
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  • Arabic

The UN is scrambling to raise money and respond to a devastating earthquake in eastern Afghanistan that has left more than 1,000 people dead and thousands more injured.

The 6.1-magnitude earthquake struck near the city of Khost, in a mountainous area near the border of Pakistan, with most of the damage seeming to have hit Paktika province.

Ramiz Alakbarov, the UN’s deputy special representative and resident humanitarian co-ordinator in Kabul, called for $15 million in emergency relief aid on Wednesday.

“We're concerned about not just non-food items and getting people into shelters and providing medical supplies, but also preventing waterborne diseases,” Mr Alakbarov said from his office in Kabul.

Mr Alakbarov said rescue efforts had been complicated by heavy rains and bad weather in the area.

The Taliban, which have controlled Afghanistan since the collapse of the western-backed government last August, have appealed for help from aid agencies.

“Unfortunately, last night there was a severe earthquake in four districts of Paktika province, which killed and injured hundreds of our countrymen and destroyed dozens of houses,” Taliban spokesman Bilal Karimi wrote on Twitter.

“We urge all aid agencies to send teams to the area immediately to prevent further catastrophe.”

The UN said it has already shipped 10 tonnes of emergency medical supplies to the area, including 30 emergency health kits and 50 surgical health kits. In addition, Mr Alakbarov said 18 mobile health teams had been sent to Paktika province.

The earthquake comes at a time when more than half of all Afghans are already facing humanitarian crises.

“The situation in the country is very difficult, and this does add to the burden,” Mr Alakbarov said.

The Taliban's limited resources and precarious international standing mean the country is struggling to respond.

“We do not have the capacity, as I said, for taking people from under the rubble,” said Mr Alakbarov, “Such capacity does not exist.”

The UN representative said he was talking with regional partners to try secure the necessary heavy machinery.

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The Bio

Ram Buxani earned a salary of 125 rupees per month in 1959

Indian currency was then legal tender in the Trucial States.

He received the wages plus food, accommodation, a haircut and cinema ticket twice a month and actuals for shaving and laundry expenses

Buxani followed in his father’s footsteps when he applied for a job overseas

His father Jivat Ram worked in general merchandize store in Gibraltar and the Canary Islands in the early 1930s

Buxani grew the UAE business over several sectors from retail to financial services but is attached to the original textile business

He talks in detail about natural fibres, the texture of cloth, mirrorwork and embroidery 

Buxani lives by a simple philosophy – do good to all

Women’s T20 World Cup Asia Qualifier

ICC Academy, November 22-28

UAE fixtures
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Nov 25, v Bhutan
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ICC T20I rankings
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6pm: Al Shindaga Museum – Handicap (TB) Dh87,500 (Dirt) 1,200m

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Common to all models unless otherwise stated

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Price: TBC

Conflict, drought, famine

Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
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Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.

The Year Earth Changed

Directed by:Tom Beard

Narrated by: Sir David Attenborough

Stars: 4

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SPEC SHEET

Display: 10.9" Liquid Retina IPS, 2360 x 1640, 264ppi, wide colour, True Tone, Apple Pencil support

Chip: Apple M1, 8-core CPU, 8-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine

Memory: 64/256GB storage; 8GB RAM

Main camera: 12MP wide, f/1.8, Smart HDR

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Front camera: 12MP ultra-wide, f/2.4, Smart HDR, Centre Stage; full HD @ 25/30/60fps

Audio: Stereo speakers

Biometrics: Touch ID

I/O: USB-C, smart connector (for folio/keyboard)

Battery: Up to 10 hours on Wi-Fi; up to 9 hours on cellular

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German plea
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told the German parliament that. Russia had erected a new wall across Europe. 

"It's not a Berlin Wall -- it is a Wall in central Europe between freedom and bondage and this Wall is growing bigger with every bomb" dropped on Ukraine, Zelenskyy told MPs.

Mr Zelenskyy was applauded by MPs in the Bundestag as he addressed Chancellor Olaf Scholz directly.

"Dear Mr Scholz, tear down this Wall," he said, evoking US President Ronald Reagan's 1987 appeal to Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev at Berlin's Brandenburg Gate.

The specs

Engine: 6.2-litre supercharged V8

Power: 712hp at 6,100rpm

Torque: 881Nm at 4,800rpm

Transmission: 8-speed auto

Fuel consumption: 19.6 l/100km

Price: Dh380,000

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Updated: June 23, 2022, 8:29 AM