Kunar Earthquake: Grieving Mother Supports Orphaned Children

On the night of the deadly earthquake in eastern Afghanistan’s Kunar province, 45-year-old Yasemin was away from home, visiting her brother in Nangarhar. By the next morning, she received devastating news: her husband, four sons, and daughter had all died when their home collapsed.

“I have no one left. It is unbearably hard to forget my children and my husband,” Yasemin says. “Now I live with my brother, but my heart is full of sorrow.”

She adds that thousands of homes, including her own, were destroyed, leaving many people without breadwinners. “Our home was completely destroyed—nothing remains. I have no means to rebuild it, no help has reached me, and I urgently need support,” she explains.

Despite her own loss, Yasemin is now trying to care for children who were orphaned by the earthquake. “I try to look after these orphaned children as if they were my own,” she says.

In this powerful quake, many families lost all their members. Women and children were among the hardest hit, and without guardians, they now face an uncertain future.

Afghan businessman Irfanullah Ghamsharik has expressed his condolences and pledged financial support for women and children who lost their parents or guardians.

“After the Kunar earthquake, I took responsibility for seven orphaned children and two women without guardians. I rented a house for them in Jalalabad, where the women care for the children, and I am helping ensure they have access to education,” he says.

According to him, in Nurgal district, there is a young orphan—just seven or eight years old—who lost not only his parents but his entire family in the quake.

A report by Save the Children states that around 280 children lost both parents, and more than 260,000 children were affected overall. Over 5,000 homes were destroyed, forcing families to live in tents or under the open sky. Thousands of children remain in urgent need of emergency aid and long-term psychological support.