Switzerland examines aid for earthquake zone in Afghanistan
People affected by an earthquake salvage their belongings as they wait for relief in Zinda Jan district of Herat on Sunday
Keystone / Samiullah Popal
After several severe earthquakes in Afghanistan with more than 2,000 dead, Switzerland has announced possible aid for the crisis-stricken country.
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Keystone-SDA
The foreign ministry told the Keystone-SDA news agency on Sunday that the government’s Humanitarian Aid was following the situation closely and examining a possible response.
The agency did not provide more detailed information. The foreign ministry reportedly had no knowledge of any Swiss citizens affected by the earthquake.
According to Afghan data and the US earthquake service (USGS), Saturday’s earthquake had a magnitude of 6.3. The centre of the quake was 40 kilometres northwest of Herat, the largest city in western Afghanistan. The authorities later reported eight aftershocks with a magnitude between 4.3 and 6.3. Another aftershock with a magnitude of 4.2 also hit the area on Sunday, according to USGS data.
More than 1,300 houses collapsed due to the quakes in the region around the city of Herat, according to authorities. More than 2,000 people died in 13 villages and several thousand others were injured. Search and rescue operations continued on Sunday.
Afghanistan is already in a humanitarian crisis because many foreign aid organisations left the country after the radical Islamic Taliban took power in the summer of 2021. At that time, Switzerland also temporarily closed the cooperation office of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) in Kabul and withdrew its staff.
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