Funding urgently needed as thousands homeless after Afghanistan quake, says UN

By Olivia Le Poidevin

GENEVA (Reuters) -Urgent funding is needed to scale up life-saving support for families forced to sleep outdoors following powerful earthquakes that recently struck eastern Afghanistan, the UN’s migration agency said on Thursday.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) is appealing for $16.8 million, in line with the United Nations joint humanitarian appeal, to provide emergency shelter and health care for 134,000 people.

“Families have lost everything and are now sleeping in the open, without proper shelter, food or clean water,” said IOM Deputy Director General Ugochi Daniels.

The 6.0 magnitude earthquake struck on the night of August 31 into September 1, killing more than 2,200 people, destroying more than 7,000 homes and affecting nearly half a mill