Afghan quake leaves thousands in need of aid

Climate Focus

By Sharon Kimathi, Energy and ESG Editor, Reuters Digital

Hello,

Today's newsletter focuses on the need for aid in times of crisis as tens of thousands of families were left homeless after a powerful earthquake in Afghanistan and  urgently need shelter as winter approaches. Reuters reporters also headed to Cameroon where a lack of aid funding has led to a growing number of malaria deaths.

The 6.0 magnitude earthquake struck Afghanistan on the night of August 31 into September 1, killing more than 2,200 people and destroying more than 8,000 homes, according to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).

More than 11,000 displaced people are living in temporary camps in Kunar Province, where the Afghan Red Crescent is providing tents, hot meals, clean water, and essential household items.

The IFRC said its Emergency Appeal of CHF 25 million ($31.37 million) has only received one-third of the funding needed.

Without more money it will not be able to scale up much-needed shelter, food and protection for families and women, it said.

"With more than 1.3 million people directly and indirectly affected, many families are still living in tents, makeshift shelters, or under the open sky," the IFRC said in a statement.

Climate change has also been increasing the frequency of droughts and erratic rainfall in Afghanistan, according to aid agencies which said that Kabul is among the most water-stressed cities in Asia, with shortages fuelling disease, malnutrition and school dropouts.

The Afghanistan Analysts Network, an independent Kabul-based research group, in a report this month warned the city's groundwater could run out by 2030, with other Afghan cities also running dry.

The crisis is deepening inequality, as poor families spend up to 30% of their income on tanker water while the wealthy dig ever-deeper private wells.

In Cameroon, Reuters reporters travelled to its northern region – where the U.S. had played a leading role in the malaria response for nearly a decade – to document how the sudden aid cuts are contributing to delayed malaria diagnoses, inadequate treatment and a growing number of deaths. 

Click here for the full Reuters report.

Vietnam's government said Typhoon Bualoi caused an estimated 8 trillion dong ($303 million) of property damage this week. 

The government's preliminary assessment showed that nearly 170,000 houses were damaged or inundated by flooding. The typhoon severely damaged roads, schools, and offices, and caused power grid failures that left tens of thousands of families without electricity, the report said.

The heavy rains killed at least 29 people and left 22 others missing, according to the disaster management agency report.

Rescuers push a partially submerged car on a flooded street in this handout picture released . Press office of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine in Odesa. Handout via REUTERS. 

Flash floods in Ukraine's Odesa killed nine people including a family of five trapped in their home as it was engulfed by water, emergency services said. Teams worked through the night to rescue some 362 people and pump water from buildings, the service said on the Telegram messaging app, and it posted pictures of passengers being lifted from a flooded bus and cars pulled from the water.

A winter with little snow, especially in the northeastern part of the Swiss Alps, followed by heat waves in June, caused the glaciers to lose 3% of their total ice mass, according to this year's report by  monitoring body GLAMOS and the Swiss Commission for Cryosphere Observation.

U.S. government services have been disrupted this week as President Donald Trump and Congress are negotiating on a spending deal. But that has not stopped fossil fuel activities, as some government staff will be kept on during the federal shutdown to process permits and leases for oil, gas and coal operations on public lands, according to the Interior Department.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, which oversees energy development in federal waters, said in its contingency plan that renewable energy activities would stop, but oil and gas work would continue in a limited fashion.

Scientist and global activist Jane Goodall has died at the age of 91, the institute she founded said. Goodall, who turned her childhood love of primates into a lifelong quest for protecting the environment, died of natural causes while in California on a speaking tour.

Goodall was a pioneer in her field, both as a female scientist in the 1960s and for her work studying the behavior of primates. She created a path for a string of other women to follow suit, including the late Dian Fossey.

Click here for a Reuters video to learn more about Namibia's wildfires sweeping across its Etosha National Park, which have burned through bushes and grasslands, leaving animal bones across fields. Click here for a Reuters article on how the wildfires are affecting the country's tourism industry.

Tropical Storm Matmo is expected to cross over the Philippines on Friday before strengthening into a typhoon later that evening, according to the Hong Kong Observatory.

The Philippines is still dealing with the aftermath of a magnitude 6.9 earthquake that struck the island earlier this week – the deadliest to hit the country since 2013 – whilst still reeling from last week's Tropical Storm Bualoi and Super Typhoon Ragasa.

That's $13.81 billion, which is the amount Germany provided for international climate financing in 2024, according to its ministries for environment and international development.

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