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Afghanistan quake leaves women and girls facing 'long-term disaster', warns UN

Women and girls still reeling from Afghanistan's recent deadly earthquake face even greater suffering rebuilding their lives and livelihoods without much more help from the international community, UN Women said on Friday.

“While the major aftershocks have passed, or have mostly passed, women in affected areas are facing a long-term disaster without more urgent assistance,” said Susan Ferguson, UN Women Special Representative in Afghanistan.

One woman rescuer supported by the UN agency described “scrambling” along the sides of mountains, “dodging falling rocks every time there was an aftershock”, Ms. Ferguson told journalists in Geneva. “Another woman who joined these teams, again with our support, said there was no other channel for women to share their needs and concerns, as they are restricted from speaking to men.”

In the more than two weeks since a shallow 6.0 magnitude earthquake hit eastern Afghanistan, rescuers have battled extremely challenging terrain – often on foot – to reach the most remote communities in Kunar province. At least 2,200 people were killed as houses built on steep hillsides collapsed on top of each other when the quake happened at around midnight on 31 August.

After meeting women survivors living in a basic tent in Chawkay district in central Kunar province, Ms. Ferguson said it was clear that they would soon need sturdier shelter, as temperatures start to drop.

“These women had fled their village in the middle of the night when the earthquake struck, walking for hours to find temporary shelter,” she said. “They told me they'd lost their relatives, many still buried in the rubble. They lost their homes, they lost their livelihoods and their source of income. As one woman said to me, ‘Now we have nothing.’’’

The humanitarian response to the disaster has been hampered by the de facto authority (DFA)’s ban on Afghan women staff members and contractors from entering UN compounds in the capital, Kabul, effective since 5 September.

“The ban is impacting us because our women staff are not allowed to come to the office to work,” the UN Women representative said. “However, women staff and women in the humanitarian response are still able to operate in the earthquake-affected sites. And this is really essential and has been recognized actually as essential by the DFA…as well.”

Women and girls accounted for more than half of those killed and injured in the disaster. They also make up 60 per cent of those still missing, while many survivors live in tents or out in the open, as witnessed by UN Women assessment teams.

Providing health care to survivors of the tragedy remains a priority – as does finding enough women to do this work, in line with culturally accepted practices. “What I heard from health workers and from some women was that there was a particular area in the earthquake-affected zone where there were cultural norms that meant that women themselves didn't want men to touch them and that men also didn't want to touch women as they were trying to rescue them,” Ms. Ferguson explained.

Destruction of basic infrastructure has heightened the threat of violence against women and girls as they are forced to walk further in search of a bathroom, or gather water, exposing them to the risk of violence and landmines.

“In everyday life, in this cultural context, these women already face an uphill battle every day to survive and support their families,” Ms. Ferguson said. “Now, in the disruption and chaos following the earthquake, these women will find it exponentially harder to feed their children and find a safe place to stay.”

Satellite images have revealed that more than 649,000 tonnes of debris - equivalent to 40,500 truckloads – still need to be cleared. According to the UN Development Programme (UNDP) which analysed the data at least 23,000 people may have been forced from their homes.

ends

STORY: Afghanistan earthquake response – UN Women

TRT: 2’32”

SOURCE: UNTV CH

RESTRICTIONS: NONE

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH/ NATS

ASPECT RATIO: 16:9

DATELINE: 19 SEPTEMBER 2025 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND & broll of Susan Ferguson, UN Women Special Representative in Afghanistan visiting an affected village and surrounding area in Chawkay district, central Kunar province, on 11 September 2025.

Speaker:

UN Women Special Representative in Afghanistan, Susan Ferguson

SHOTLIST

Exterior wide shot: Palais des Nations, flag alley.
Wide, podium speakers, UN Geneva Press room, remote speaker on TV screens.
SOUNDBITE (English) – UN Women Special Representative in Afghanistan, Susan Ferguson: “Women and girls continue to bear the brunt of the Afghanistan earthquake, one of the deadliest in the country’s recent history. While the major aftershocks have passed, or have mostly passed, women in affected areas are facing a long-term disaster without more urgent assistance.”
Wide, podium speaker, journalists, remote speaker on TV screen.
SOUNDBITE (English) – UN Women Special Representative in Afghanistan, Susan Ferguson: “One of the women we supported on these teams described scrambling along the sides of mountains, dodging falling rocks every time there was an aftershock. Another woman who joined these teams, again with our support, said there was no other channel for women to share their needs and concerns, as they are restricted from speaking to men.”
Medium, journalist.
SOUNDBITE (English) – UN Women Special Representative in Afghanistan, Susan Ferguson: “I sat with a group of women in an earthquake-affected village. We met in a stiflingly hot tent with a dirt floor and soon that ground will freeze as winter approaches. These women had fled their village in the middle of the night when the earthquake struck, walking for hours to find temporary shelter.”
Wide, TV journalist, TV screens showing remote speaker.
SOUNDBITE (English) – UN Women Special Representative in Afghanistan, Susan Ferguson: “They told me they'd lost their relatives, many still buried in the rubble. They lost their homes, they lost their livelihoods and their source of income. As one woman said to me, ‘Now we have nothing.’ Yet as long as there are women humanitarians on the ground, there is hope that women like this woman will be able to access support and services.”
Medium-wide, journalists.
SOUNDBITE (English) – UN Women Special Representative in Afghanistan, Susan Ferguson: “The ban is impacting us because our women staff are not allowed to come to the office to work. However, women staff and women in the humanitarian response are still able to operate in the earthquake-affected sites. And this is really essential and has been recognized actually as essential by the DFA authorities as well.”
Wide, journalists, TV screens showing remote speaker.
SOUNDBITE (English) – UN Women Special Representative in Afghanistan, Susan Ferguson: “What I heard from health workers and from some women was that there was a particular area in the earthquake-affected zone where there were cultural norms that meant that women themselves didn't want men to touch them and that men also didn't want to touch women as they were trying to rescue them.”
Medium, TV journalist.

For B-roll Shotlist see More Info

UN WOMEN B-roll: Afghanistan earthquake - 11 September 2025

00:00 - 00:23 - Medium shot, view from a moving car driving on dirt road with UN inscription visible on car

00:24 - 00:37 - Wide shot, view of tents

00:37 - 00:43 - Medium shot, Woman seen walking from the back with UN Women logo on her jacket

00:44 - 02:15 - Various shots, destroyed houses

Afghanistan earthquake response – UN Women 19 September 2025

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