The UN hasn’t reached 362 of the 5,230 dwellings in 49 communities that were devastated by the Afghanistan earthquake

An initial United Nations assessment of the impact of Afghanistan’s recent deadly earthquake found 5,230 homes destroyed and 672 damaged in 49 villages — but the U.N. hasn’t been able to get to the vast majority of the remote villages. The U.N. humanitarian office in Afghanistan’s coordination leader, Shannon O’Hara, stated Monday that it is very challenging to evaluate the impact in the 441 impacted communities due to damaged roads in the country’s rough and mountainous east, where the 6.0 magnitude earthquake occurred. The challenges were exacerbated by a string of aftershocks with magnitudes ranging from 5.2 to 5.6, she said.

At least 2,200 people were killed in the Aug. 31 earthquake, and when additional bodies are found, that number may increase. The United Nations estimates the quake has affected up to 500,000 people, more than half of them children and some of them Afghans forcibly returned from neighboring Pakistan and Iran.

As an illustration of the challenges the U.N. team has encountered, O’Hara stated that it took her over 6 1/2 hours to travel the only road, a narrow, single-lane path carved into the mountainside and occasionally blocked by large rocks from landslides, from Jalalabad, the largest city close to the earthquake area, to the worst-hit area about 100 kilometers away.

She claimed a large number of cars, including trucks carrying humanitarian aid, were attempting to travel up and down the valley to provide assistance.

Families walking in the opposite direction, displaced and carrying what little they could, were visible to us as we drove towards the epicenter. According to O’Hara, several people were still dressed in the same outfits from the night of the earthquake. “Mothers and fathers were carrying their children, some with fresh bandages covering their injuries.”

As the U.N. team approached the epicenter, she said, the destruction grew worse, with entire towns devastated and the overwhelming stench of dead animals. While many families were sleeping outside in the cold and rain, others were living in cramped tents after losing their homes and means of subsistence. “With cholera endemic in the area and preliminary assessments showing that 92% of these communities are practicing open defecation, there was no clean drinking water and no sanitation,” she said. “There is a concerning risk of a cholera outbreak.” During a video press conference with U.N. journalists, O’Hara, who has been in the earthquake-affected area for five days, provided the preliminary assessment. She said the needs are overwhelming — clean water, food, tents, latrines While many families were sleeping outside in the cold and rain, others were living in cramped tents after losing their homes and means of subsistence. “With cholera endemic in the area and preliminary assessments showing that 92% of these communities are practicing open defecation, there was no clean drinking water and no sanitation,” she said. “There is a concerning risk of a cholera outbreak.”

Time is of the importance, she said. In the valleys where camps for the displaced have been established, “any day, rainfall could cause flash floods,” and “more aftershocks could cause more severe landslides, cutting off access to communities still living near the epicenter,” according to O’Hara. “And snow will cut off access to these mountain valleys,” she said. “If we don’t act now, these communities may not survive the coming winter.”

According to O’Hara, the UN will make an urgent plea on Tuesday for much-needed money to assist earthquake survivors.

She said that there have been no significant obstacles to humanitarian efforts and that search and rescue efforts have been led by the Taliban, who currently control Afghanistan. Regarding women and girls whose activities are severely restricted by the Taliban, O’Hara stated that the U.N. is making sure that women are included in health teams and assistance delivery operations and that she has not heard of any women being abandoned by male-only rescue teams.