Eight days after a 6.0 magnitude earthquake tore through Kunar Province, Afghanistan, Farid was still trying to figure out how to keep his children from getting sick.
The 30-year-old father of four had suffered severe damage to his home and most of his family’s belongings were destroyed, even the simple things they’d taken for granted—clean containers, soap, and a safe way to store water.
“It became hard to keep things clean and the children were getting sick,” he recalls.
These are the hidden despairs of disasters. It’s the part that begins after the headlines fade. For families like Farid’s, the crisis doesn’t end when the earthquake stops. In many ways, that’s when it begins.
When people think about disasters, the focus is often on what’s been destroyed. Homes are reduced to rubble and buildings are damaged beyond repair. But for families like Farid’s, the loss goes far beyond shelter.
Before the earthquake, Farid’s daily life depended on systems he rarely had to think about. There was a nearby clinic if his children got sick. Local shops carried basic supplies. Roads connected his village to food, medicine, and support.
After the earthquake, those systems broke down almost overnight.
The clinic closed. Roads were damaged, slowing or stopping deliveries. Store shelves had been emptied. And when Farid searched for basic items, there was little to be found.
Losing his home was only the beginning. What followed was the loss of access to healthcare, clean water, and essential supplies. These are the hidden despairs of disasters that make recovery far more difficult and prolong the crisis for families.
For Farid, this meant facing new risks each day. With the local water source contaminated, keeping his children healthy became a constant challenge.
In those early days, disaster recovery wasn’t about rebuilding walls. It was about navigating everything that no longer worked, and finding ways to protect his family.
Relief reached Farid’s village because someone already knew the roads to get there. In the immediate aftermath of a disaster, access is everything.
Local partners often make the difference in how quickly families receive help. Damaged roads, disrupted supply chains, and overwhelmed local systems can delay critical aid from reaching the people who need it most. For families like Farid’s, that delay can mean the difference between staying healthy and facing serious illness.
Because we work with trusted local partners, help can move quickly when disasters strike. Partners understand local needs, have teams ready to respond, and often have access to nearby supply networks. This on-the-ground knowledge helps ensure food, water, and medicine reach communities as quickly as possible.
For Farid, that speed mattered. Because our partners arrived quickly, he no longer had to leave his family behind to search for help elsewhere.
When help arrived, Farid’s family not only received food, but also a hygiene kit. At first glance, the items in the kit seemed simple: soap, toothbrushes, sanitary pads, towels, a bucket, a jerrycan, and liquid chlorine. But each one addressed a problem he had been trying to solve.
“With these items, we could start the task of cleaning our damaged home, wash the few remaining clothes we had, and store water properly,” he said. “The liquid chlorine gave us safe drinking water during those first difficult times.”
These are the kinds of items that often go unnoticed until they’re gone. In disaster situations, they become essential for preventing the spread of illness and protecting vulnerable families.
For Farid, they meant his children could start to recover instead of getting worse.
The hidden despair of disasters appears in everyday struggles—no access to clean water, local stores have little or no food on the shelves, and hospitals and clinics may have run out of basic medicines.
For Farid, what restored a sense of order wasn’t a rebuilt home. It was soap, a clean container, and water his family could safely drink.
“These kits protected my children from getting sick,” he said. “At a time when we had lost almost everything, this help meant a lot. It gave us a clean start and the strength to move forward.”
His story reflects what so many families experience after a disaster: the struggle to meet basic needs, the risk of preventable illness, and the relief that comes when even simple support arrives.
In the days following a disaster when families are most vulnerable to illness and basic systems no longer work, support like this can prevent small problems from becoming serious ones.
For Farid, it meant his children could stay healthy, and his family could begin to move forward.
Because long after the headlines fade, recovery often starts with something simple: keeping a family safe.