10/10/2023 (Agence Europe) – In response to the deadly earthquake that devastated western Afghanistan last weekend, the EU is mobilising €3.5 million in initial humanitarian aid to cover the most urgent needs of the affected populations, the European Commission announced on Tuesday 10 October. The bulk of this emergency aid - €2.5 million - will support relief activities carried out by ECHO’s (the Commission’s European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations) partner humanitarian organisations on the ground. The remaining €1 million is the value of essential goods in kind from the EU’s humanitarian stocks in Dubai, which are available to humanitarian partners (shelter kits, winter tents and other supplies) and delivered to them by the EU’s humanitarian airlift (see EUROPE 13267/22). In 2023, €89 million in humanitarian funding has already been allocated to partner organisations. (AN)