<h6><strong>Eduardo González</strong></h6> <h4><strong>Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares expressed his “deep shock” on Tuesday by the “terrible earthquake” of magnitude six on the Richter scale that caused more than 1,400 deaths in Kunar province, eastern Afghanistan.</strong></h4> “Deeply shocked by the news of the terrible earthquake that shook Kunar province in Afghanistan,” Albares wrote on social media. “Our condolences to the families of the more than 1,400 dead. Our solidarity with the thousands of injured and the Afghan people in these difficult times,” he added. The earthquake occurred on Sunday night in the Hindu Kush mountainous area, near the capital, Kabul, and close to the border with Pakistan, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS). The epicenter was located approximately 42 kilometers northeast of Jalalabad at a depth of approximately eight kilometers. The tremors were felt strongly in Kabul and several nearby cities in Pakistan, including the capital, Islamabad. As announced by the European Commission on Tuesday, the European Union has approved €1 million in humanitarian emergency funding to address the most urgent needs of the affected population. This funding will be used by humanitarian partners already carrying out relief operations on the ground. In addition, the EU will send nearly 130 tons of relief supplies from its own humanitarian stockpiles, including tents, clothing, medical supplies, and water purification equipment. The supplies will be transported via two EU-funded humanitarian flights, which will arrive in Kabul later this week. The EU has also activated the Copernicus satellite service to produce emergency maps to facilitate the delivery of aid to the most affected areas. This new assistance is in addition to the €161 million in humanitarian aid the European Union has already allocated to Afghanistan in 2025. All aid is channeled exclusively through humanitarian partners. Since 2021, the EU has been organizing humanitarian flights to Afghanistan, several of them following the 2023 Herat earthquake, which transported approximately 2,000 tons of lifesaving supplies.
