The EU announces one million euros in humanitarian assistance for those affected by the earthquake in Afghanistan

BRUSSELS, June 23 (EUROPA PRESS) –

The European Union has announced this Thursday one million euros in humanitarian assistance in response to the serious earthquake in the east of the country and whose death toll exceeds a thousand people.

“In Afghanistan the devastating humanitarian crisis is aggravated by the deadly earthquake. The EU mobilizes an initial one million euros in emergency support”, confirmed the Commissioner for Crisis Management, Janez Lenarcic.

More than a thousand people have died in the earthquake and the European bloc estimates that another 270,000 in the affected areas will need emergency aid. “The EU is ready to provide more assistance,” said the Slovenian commissioner.

The strong earthquake comes at a time when Afghanistan is suffering one of the worst humanitarian crises, with significant humanitarian needs, a food crisis and a large number of displaced people.

An earthquake of magnitude 6.1 on the open Richter scale recorded on Tuesday night in the Afghan province of Jost (east), near the border with Pakistan, has left a balance of at least a thousand dead, according to Afghan authorities have confirmed.