GENEVA, September 11. /TASS/. Almost 500,000 Afghan residents need urgent medical care after the August 31 earthquake in the east of the country, the World Health Organization (WHO) said.
"More than 498,000 people urgently need health assistance, among them over 11,600 pregnant women now facing heightened risks in overcrowded temporary shelters with poor sanitation," the organization said in a statement about the aftermath of the earthquake in Afghanistan. WHO experts note that women and girls have been particularly affected by the disaster, adding that they "face persistent barriers in accessing essential services and the absence of gender-sensitive spaces in both health facilities and camps."
According to the organization's estimates, women make up 35% of all those hospitalized with injuries.
On August 31, an earthquake of magnitude 6.2 hit the Hindu Kush Mountains, 27 km southwest of the city of Asadabad in eastern Afghanistan. Powerful tremors destroyed entire villages. According to the latest data, the death toll from the disaster has exceeded 2,200, and about 3,600 Afghans were injured. On September 2, another, magnitude 5.5 quake shook the Hindu Kush Mountains.