Santa Barbara Charity Providing Tents to Afghanistan After Quake Kills at Least 1,400

Two major earthquakes shook communities and flattened homes in Afghanistan over the past week, prompting relief efforts from Santa Barbara–based charity ShelterBox.

A strong, 6.0-magnitude earthquake struck eastern Afghanistan, near Jalalabad, on Sunday night. Then, on early Tuesday morning, a 5.1 magnitude earthquake hit the same region. The quakes’ shallow depths made them especially destructive, ShelterBox said on Tuesday. The remote and mountainous but populated areas of Kunar and Nangarhar have been devastated. 

Afghanistan authorities reported at least 1,400 people were killed and more than 3,100 others were injured on Sunday. Villages — largely built with easily collapsible mud and brick — have been reduced to rubble. 

ShelterBox is initially committing more than $250,000 million to relief efforts. “Right now, especially with a second earthquake, the focus is search and rescue,” said ShelterBox U.S.A. president Kerri Murray. Access remains challenging and communication networks are down, making it difficult to understand the full extent of the damages. 

Still, ShelterBox said it is looking to source tents in the quake-stricken country to respond quickly and provide much-needed emergency shelter and other necessities. 

When there is a lingering threat of aftershocks, displaced residents often do not want to sleep inside damaged buildings. “They end up sleeping outside in cold, mountainous regions,” Murray said. “It’s important for us, especially with winter approaching, to provide things like blankets, tented shelter, and other basics to give people some privacy and protection from the elements.” 

Over the coming days and weeks, she said it is likely ShelterBox will expand its humanitarian response based on support from donors and their partner’s ability to build greater capacity within the region. But “it’s a tough area to work,” especially with limited resources in hard-to-reach mountainous areas, she added.

Aid agencies are struggling to keep up with demand, especially with recent government budget cuts and aid reductions from the United States and other countries. President Donald Trump has effectively defunded the U.S. Agency for International Development and other foreign aid programs, causing nearly half of the annual aid Afghanistan received in years prior to disappear. 

Many countries are put off by Afghanistan’s politics, citing concerns that aid may be seized and manipulated by the Taliban government. However, the lack of help puts immense pressure on local aid agencies and privately funded, international charities like ShelterBox. 

“We’re not financially impacted, but because government aid is vanishing, we’re finding ourselves alone in responses,” said Paul Vercammen, ShelterBox’s communications director. “It’s anticipated that in Afghanistan, almost no help will come from government sources. The ShelterBox response will have a greater impact [and] is needed more.”

ShelterBox said it has existing partners in the country after responding in previous years, who are assessing affected areas to determine where the charity’s support is most needed.

“We work in this world quite a bit,” said Kerri Murray. Right now, they are stretched thin, “but our hope is really to find the most vulnerable and get people back on their feet again.”

Before the earthquake, ShelterBox said it was exploring how to support people ahead of winter — displaced by conflict — returning to remote areas of Afghanistan after being deported from Iran and Pakistan.  

Afghanistan was already facing a deep humanitarian crisis, Murray noted, with nearly 23 million people (half the population) needing an estimated $2.4 billion in humanitarian assistance. The need has only grown since the quakes, she said.

At the same time, ShelterBox is continuing its response to the floods in Pakistan. Heavy rains are pounding the region, causing rivers to burst their banks and drown out entire mountain villages.  

“So, it’s already been an extremely complex and complicated year from a funding perspective,” Murray said. “But we know that this is an important emergency and we needed to do something.”

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