Tuesday, the United Nations announced it had started an emergency appeal to assist hundreds of thousands of people in parts of Afghanistan devastated by a catastrophic earthquake last week.

Last Wednesday's 5.9-magnitude earthquake devastated the poor eastern region of Paktika, killing more than a thousand people and leaving tens of thousands homeless.

The UN agency for humanitarian aid and its allies have launched an urgent appeal for $110 million to assist 362,000 people in Paktika and Khost provinces for the next three months.

"In addition to the tragic deaths and injuries, the earthquake also destroyed homes, health facilities, schools and water networks, leaving thousands vulnerable to further harm," a spokesman told reporters.

He stated that the Monday appeal was part of this year's larger Humanitarian Response Plan for the war-torn and impoverished country.

This would cost $4.4 billion to be fully executed, but only 34% has been allocated thus far, according to Laerke.

He stated that the UN program is so underfunded that the agency and its partners had to borrow supplies and workforce from other humanitarian programs to assist with the immediate earthquake response.

Last Friday, Martin Griffiths, the UN's human rights chief, approved $10 million from the UN's Central Emergency Relief Fund to bolster aid.