(JTA) – Two major humanitarian crises are eliciting the involvement of Jewish aid organizations, although it is unclear whether much can be done from afar to support Afghans now that the Taliban has retaken their country.

An earthquake struck Haiti early Saturday, August 14, killing nearly 1,300 with the death toll likely to rise. Meanwhile, the country is experiencing political instability and still recovering from a devastating 2016 hurricane and a 2010 earthquake in the capital of Port-au-Prince that left more than 220,000 people dead. Among those directing aid to Haiti is the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, which first engaged with the country in the 1930s, when Haiti was one of just a handful of countries to accept Jewish refugees from the Nazis. The JDC worked to support those refugees. Now, the group is working with a longtime local partner to send medical supplies to a hospital in the region of Haiti most affected by the earthquake. The American Jewish World Service, which has long been involved in helping Haitians advocate for human rights, is also raising funds to support relief aid for Haiti.

In Afghanistan, where the Taliban has retaken the country just weeks after the U.S. removed troops that had been there for nearly two decades, humanitarian groups have fewer avenues to help. The U.S. and its allies had said they would evacuate people who aided their mission and are likely to face retaliation by the Taliban, but those efforts were proceeding slowly. 

HIAS, originally the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, wrote on Facebook last week that it would work to help Afghans who make it to the U.S. through a special program designed to protect people who aided the U.S. mission there. But there is little more to do at this time, it said. “Our hearts break for the people of Afghanistan right now. Unfortunately, the current reality is that options for resettlement are limited to the Special Immigrant Visa program,” the group wrote. “We are advocating to change that.”

Meanwhile, it is unclear whether the last known Jew in Afghanistan is still in the country. Zabulon Simantov, 61, stayed in Kabul to tend its last synagogue even after his wife and children moved to Israel.

Main Photo: Afghans crowd at the tarmac of the Kabul airport on Aug. 16, 2021, in an effort to flee the country as the Taliban retook control after 20 years. (AFP via Getty Images)