President Tsai Ing-wen has extended her sincere condolences to the people of Afghanistan. That’s after a magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck Afghanistan’s southeastern city of Khost. The powerful quake killed more than 1,000 people and injured thousands more, many of them seriously.
According to a foreign ministry press release published on Thursday, Taiwan will donate US$1 million to support relief efforts and assist people inside Afghanistan. Taiwan will not provide an international search and rescue team due to the complex nature of the disaster and the difficulties of traveling to the area.
Taiwan’s contribution is in response to an appeal from the United Nations and its partners. Wednesday’s earthquake worsens the already dire humanitarian crisis in war-torn Afghanistan.