The City of London Corporation has donated to an international effort to tackle an emergency described as ‘the worst humanitarian crisis on Earth’.
The Square Mile’s governing body has donated £25,000 to the Disasters Emergency Committee’s (DEC) Afghanistan Crisis Appeal, and is encouraging other City organisations and businesses to play their part.
The DEC says that one million children in the country are at risk of dying from malnutrition as their families battle chronic poverty and hunger.
It estimates that 95% of people in Afghanistan do not have enough to eat, with temperatures plummeting as low as -12 degrees C, leaving displaced families struggling to survive.
The collapse of Afghanistan’s economy following the re-emergence of the Taliban has heaped misery upon a country already reeling from years of conflict, the pandemic and the worst drought in 27 years.
City of London Corporation Finance Committee Chairman Jamie Ingham Clark said:
“No-one who has seen recent television footage from Afghanistan can fail to have been moved by the plight of families facing an appalling situation this winter through no fault of their own.
“Children are dying as families can’t afford to buy food, while health services are struggling to treat malnourished children as they lack essential medicines and supplies.
“We can all play our part in contributing towards the urgent relief effort, and I’d encourage any City organisation which can afford it to support the vital work of this appeal.”
The DEC appeal was launched in response to what David Beasley, head of the UN World Food Programme, described as ‘the worst humanitarian crisis on Earth’.
The City Corporation funding is from its International Disasters Fund, which in the past year has donated to the Haiti earthquake relief effort, the India coronavirus appeal and the work of food banks in London.
