A powerful earthquake with a 7.5 magnitude struck Hindu Kush mountain range in Badakhshan Province, Afghanistan on October 26, 2015 and also affected a large area of Pakistan. According to UNOCHA, 117 fatalities and 544 injured have been reported; 12,794 homes were damaged and 7,384 houses were destroyed in Afghanistan (as of 23/12/2015). In Pakistan, there were 280 deaths and 1770 injured. 109,123 houses were reported to have partial or complete damages (as of 22/12/2015). Immediately after hearing the news about the earthquake, AMDA has contacted our local partners - AMDA Afghanistan and National Rural Support Programme (NRSP) in Pakistan.
According to our local partners, there was a need for relief activities, thus AMDA has decided to support the affected people from the earthquake in collaboration with them. In Pakistan, NRSP conducted assessment in the badly hit area in KP province, and 174 houses were found severely damaged. Therefore, in collaboration with NRSP, AMDA decided to provide building materials for 4 households chosen locally considering scale of damages on their houses and residents' economic status in Union Council Fatima, Mardan District of KP province.
In Afghanistan, AMDA Afghanistan conducted assessments in the affected areas. However, due to local circumstances, we found difficulty extending our support to the local affected people. AMDA will continue to monitor the situation in the affected area.