“As a first step, we are supporting affected families with cash assistance, enabling them to buy what they need most urgently,” explains tenBoer. “This could be food or simple building materials, for example. In this way, we also help to strengthen local markets.”
Food security in the earthquake region has already been precarious: five consecutive years of drought have led to water shortages and crop failures. This year’s drought has been the worst yet. Around 1.1 million people in Balkh and Samangan provinces are suffering from hunger – more than one-third of the population. Across Afghanistan, approximately 13.8 million people, or 28 percent of the population, are affected.
