- B99 -

Dear Friends On June 22 just past midnight while people were asleep the southeast provinces of Afghanistan Paktika and Khost were shaken badly by a devastating earthquake that caused the loss of thousands of lives and the destruction of many villages. The areas homes are mostly constructed from stones and mud and sticks. Thousands of bodies were pulled out and many more bodies are under the debris. The needs were already extreme due to sanctions and Taliban rulings and now this is another disastrous situation that people in that area have to deal with.