Women and girls are in a “not only difficult ... but deadly” situation following recent earthquakes in Afghanistan because of the humanitarian and civil rights crises in the country since the Taliban seized power, a UN official said Sunday.
An update from UN Women highlighted some of the problems women are facing in areas of Herat province, where a series of violent earthquakes and aftershocks this month killed thousands of people, more than 90% of them women and children, and destroyed nearly every home.
Cultural norms make it impossible for women to share a tent with neighbors or other families, the UN agency said in its update published Thursday. Many women also have difficulty obtaining humanitarian aid if they don’t have male relative who can access it on their behalf and there is an absence of female workers aid distribution points, the UN said
Women affected by the earthquake have told the UN they cannot access aid without the national identity card, or tazkera, of a male relative.
One reason children and women accounted for the vast majority of the at least 1,482 people who died in the quakes is they were more likely to have been indoors when the disasters struck, according to aid officials.
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