October 20223: The most heavily impacted areas were rural regions to the northwest of the city of Herat, where every single home was destroyed in eleven different villages during the first quakes alone. Successive quakes continued damaging homes and vital infrastructure. Families across the region began living in tents provided by aid organizations, and had limited access to food and equipment to cook with.
World Central Kitchen quickly coordinated with Instant Aid, our partner in the region, to set up food and water distribution for impacted families. We scaled up our meal counts to meet the need—going from serving 8,000 to 15,900 meals each day. WCK worked with Instant Aid for nearly a month providing food and water to the Herat hospital, as well as to camps where people who had lost their homes were living. The teams also made daily deliveries to 13 villages in the surrounding areas, ensuring the people still living there had food and water in the days following the quakes.
WCK has previously partnered with Instant Aid. In the summer of 2022, WCK and Instant Aid worked together to provide nearly 100,000 meals, along with water, milk, and baby formula, to the people of eastern Afghanistan who were impacted by another strong earthquake. They also assisted our efforts after flooding in Afghanistan and Pakistan, as well as after the devastating earthquakes in Türkiye in early 2023.
WCK is first to the frontlines, providing meals in response to humanitarian, climate, and community crises. When disaster strikes, WCK’s Relief Team mobilizes to the frontlines with the urgency of now to start cooking and provide meals to people in need. By partnering with organizations on the ground and activating a network of local restaurants, food trucks, or emergency kitchens, WCK serves comforting meals to survivors of disasters quickly and effectively. We know that good food provides not only nourishment, but also comfort and hope, especially in times of crisis.