Kunar Earthquake Survivors Face Unsafe Nights, Family Separation, and Rising Desperation

Kunar, Afghanistan — September 2025

The devastating earthquake that struck Kunar, Afghanistan, has already claimed more than a thousand lives. But the crisis for those who survived is now just as severe — and worsening by the hour.

Families who escaped the rubble are spending their nights under the open sky, with no safe shelter from continuous aftershocks and collapsing mountainsides. Those with only a blanket search for flat ground in the dark, hoping to survive another night.

Cultural traditions have forced men and women into separate spaces, leaving family members cut off from one another in a moment of profound grief and fear. Many women sit alone on stones, unable to move freely, uncertain whether food or aid will ever reach them. Survivors once relied on milk, yogurt, and corn from faraway valleys — but those sources are no longer accessible.

“All we want is to gather our families in one place. But the tremors won’t stop, and we have nowhere safe to go,” one survivor told Aseel’s local Atalan responders.

Rescue efforts remain painfully slow. Aftershocks have made it impossible to recover people trapped under rubble, condemning many to die unseen. While no new areas have collapsed, those already buried could not be saved in time.

The situation for women is especially dire. Without mobility or access, no one knows if food or relief has reached them. The suffering of women, children, and elderly survivors is intensifying with every passing day.

Aseel has launched the Urgent Earthquake Relief Package for Kunar, which provides emergency supplies including tents, blankets, and essentials — each package enough to support 35 families. Alongside this, Aseel is also distributing Family Food Packages, offering raw food materials for longer-term sustenance. Until then, Aseel’s local responders have already begun distributing hot meals to survivors who have nothing left.

“This is not just a crisis of collapsed buildings, it is a crisis of survival,” said an Aseel spokesperson. “Families are fractured, women are stranded, children are exposed to the cold, and survivors are left with nothing but fear. We urgently need global support to deliver shelter, food, and reunite families.”

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