The United Nations and several countries are lining up aid for Afghanistan after a devastating 6.3 magnitude earthquake in the northwest killed more than 2,000 people.
The head of the U.N. refugee agency Filippo Grandi in a statement today said the organization was facing one of the most difficult moments in its history, with some 110 million people displaced around the world and a major funding shortfall.
According to him, UNHCR is at one of its most difficult moments in history with the world increasingly divided, fragmented and inward-looking.
Meanwhile, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator has approved a $5 million emergency reserve allocation from the Afghanistan Humanitarian Fund (AHF), dependent on receiving additional donor resources, adding that the U.N. partners will also develop an emergency appeal which will be a subset of the existing 2023 humanitarian response plan.
The organization faces a $650 million funding shortfall this year and the outlook for 2024 is even more worrying.
