Japan provides emergency food assistance to earthquake-affected people in Afghanistan

WFP has reached nearly 70,000 people with emergency food assistance

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) welcomes a $1 million contribution from Japan to provide emergency food assistance in the earthquake-affected Herat Province in the west of Afghanistan. This vital aid will help support nearly 33,000 thousand people affected by a series of earthquakes with magnitudes reaching 6.3 that struck Herat Province within eight days this month. Dozens of villages were affected, many of them entirely flattened.

WFP dispatched food to the affected areas within hours of the initial earthquake and as of October, WFP had reached nearly 70,000 people with emergency food assistance. This includes fortified wheat flour, vegetable oil, pulses and salt as well as specialised nutritious foods to boost the nutrition condition and prevent malnutrition in children of families that have lost everything and are living in tents next to the rubble of their homes.

Based on initial assessments, WFP plans to support 118,000 people with emergency food assistance and longer-term resilience programmes that will help the communities rebuild their livelihoods.

The latest contribution from Japan comes on top of $ 17.4 million already received earlier this year for WFP’s emergency response, nutrition services and the United Nations Humanitarian Air Service, managed by WFP. Japan has been among WFP Afghanistan’s top ten donors for the past five years.