The Association of Money Exchange Dealers Raises 22 Million Afghanis for the Victims of the Earthquake

The money exchange dealers association in Afghanistan has raised 22 million Afghanis to aid thousands in the impoverished villages where the fury of the recent quake fell most heavily – in Paktika and Khost provinces, on Wednesday.

The money was donated by a number of generous money exchangers (Sarrafs), businessmen, and Afghans who reside abroad, according to the association’s chairman, Haji Dadgul Hazratzai, who spoke with RFE/RL Afghanistan today. He continued by saying that the aid would be given in two packages, one containing cash assistance and the other package would include eight million Afghanis worth of food. The magnitude-6 earthquake that struck a remote area of southeast Afghanistan and left the locals there homeless, resulted in at least 1150 deaths, injured over 1,500 others, and destroyed more than 10,000 homes. Afghanistan has experienced its deadliest earthquake in 20 years with a high magnitude, leaving it in a dire need of humanitarian aid, especially with the cash-strapped Taliban, who recently urged the release of the frozen funds.