LONDON: The Qatar International Search and Rescue Group, a specialist unit within the Internal Security Force (Lekhwiya), has established a temporary field hospital in eastern Afghanistan to provide medical assistance to people affected by three major earthquakes in the area over the past week.
The group said on Monday that some of the injured were treated at the field hospital, while critical cases were transferred to major medical facilities in nearby governorates.
It has also provided tents as temporary shelters for families left homeless by earthquakes, the Qatar News Agency reported.
At least 2,205 people were killed and 3,640 injured when eastern regions of Afghanistan were shaken by a magnitude 6 earthquake last Sunday, Aug. 31, followed by two major quakes on Tuesday and Thursday last week, according to the Taliban administration.
It is estimated that about 6,700 homes were destroyed in the provinces of Nangarhar and Kunar, close to the border with Pakistan. In addition to the people left without a home, many other families have chosen to remain outdoors out of fear that their dwellings, built mainly from dry masonry, stone and timber, are vulnerable to the continuing aftershocks.
In addition to natural disasters, Afghanistan, which has a population of 42.6 million, has suffered since the 1980s as a result of political turmoil, civil wars, a weak economy and shrinking aid budgets.
