U.N. agency appeals for funds to help tens of thousands of quake-hit Afghans, many still homeless

The U.N.’s migration agency is appealing for funds for around 134,000 people who need help in Afghanistan, nearly two weeks after an earthquake killed more than 2,200 people in the country’s mountainous east.

BRUSSELS — The U.N.’s migration agency is appealing for funds for around 134,000 people who need help in Afghanistan, nearly two weeks after an earthquake killed more than 2,200 people in the country’s mountainous east.

Many of the quake-hit Afghans are homeless, sleeping in the open and desperate to return and rebuild. Aid organizations are struggling to get tents and other assistance up the mountains and winter weather is expected in the coming weeks.

“We don’t want to create a camp” for the displaced, the International Organization for Migration’s Chief of Mission in Afghanistan Mihyung Park told The Associated Press.

“Those who are displaced … they’re living in a makeshift type of situation,” Park said in Brussels, after holding talks with European Union officials.

“We are trying to provide our assistance as close we can” to their current location, she added.