Health workers, aid officials, and analysts say the US cutbacks have had a very real impact on the ability to deliver timely assistance to hundreds of thousands of earthquake survivors, including 212,000 children. According to the UN, this year had already seen a 50% reduction in international aid to Afghanistan by the time the first 6.0-magnitude earthquake struck just before midnight on 31 August. Hospital workers said the rush was so severe they had to send earthquake victims to long-dormant specialised wards. “They certainly aren’t capable of treating the kinds of injuries that come from your house collapsing in on you.”Access was a major issue for both local and international aid efforts. “In some areas, our staff had to walk for hours to reach affected communities.”But access, too, was affected by aid cuts.