Skip to main content
European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations
News article7 July 2022Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO)

Afghanistan: Humanitarian Air Bridge delivers medical aid in response to earthquake

Fork lift truck carying goods with a EU flag sticker
© World Health Organization, 2022

Today, a new EU Humanitarian Air Bridge flight has arrived to Kabul. It has delivered 36 tonnes of life-saving cargo to address the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan and support victims of the 22 June earthquake.

The cargo consists of medical equipment such as medication and relief items, equipment for safe drinking water and sanitation supplies.

It enables EU humanitarian partners UNICEF, the World Health Organization (WHO) and Médecins Sans Frontières to continue delivering vital aid and health care services to Afghans in need.

Janez Lenarčič, Commissioner for Crisis Management said: “Today, the EU marks its 20th Humanitarian Air Bridge flight to Kabul to ensure a continuous inflow of vital medicines and medical items to Afghanistan. The country has been affected by simultaneous crises, from wide-spread hunger affecting half of the population to the powerful earthquake that shook the country just a few days ago. The European Union is therefore stepping up assistance at this critical time”.

The June earthquake hit an already extremely fragile country, marked by decades of conflict, recurrent droughts, and a sharp economic decline due to recent political developments. The earthquake alone had devastating impact with more than 1,000 fatalities and injuring almost 3,700.

The EU allocated € 1 million in emergency funding to humanitarian organisations providing immediate humanitarian relief operations to those affected, allocating in 2022 a total of €115 million in EU humanitarian aid to the country.