AFGHANISTAN: Hundreds of families displaced by floods, livelihoods lost
Pastor Dale Morgan
*AFGHANISTAN: Hundreds of families displaced by floods, livelihoods lost*
04 Jul 2007 14:18:00 GMT
Source: IRIN
PANJSHIR, 4 July 2007 (IRIN) - Almost a week after floods ravaged eight
provinces in Afghanistan 26-28 June, aid agencies have started releasing
their assessments of casualties and damage incurred.
According to a preliminary report by the UN Children's Agency (UNICEF),
flash floods killed 113 people in six provinces, including six victims
in Kabul.
"A total of 688 houses have been washed away and 212 others have
suffered partial damage," UNICEF said.
Panjshir and Kapisa provinces, in the north of the country, have been
the worst affected areas, where floods killed more than 90 people on 28
June, the UN reported.
Afghanistan's National Disasters Management Authority (ANDMA) has
described the damage caused by the floods and torrential rain as
"disastrous".
"Thousands of hectares of farmland have been destroyed; dams and bridges
have been damaged; hundreds of fruit trees have been washed away and
many farm animals killed," an ANDMA report said.
Humanitarian response
UN agencies, government bodies, private foundations and several
humanitarian organisations have delivered food and non-food relief items
to flood-affected communities in Panjshir, Kapisa and Kunar provinces.
"We have [seen] an impressive humanitarian response to the crisis," said
Abdul Matin Adrak, the director of ANDMA, on 4 July.
However, people in several other flood-stricken locations have
criticised aid bodies for shortcomings and inefficiency.
Some residents of southeastern Paktia Province, displaced by the floods,
said they had not received any humanitarian relief for more than a week.
Displaced persons
Flooding has displaced hundreds of families whose houses are either
completely destroyed or damaged.
A substantial number of displaced families now live in tents distributed
by the Afghan Red Crescent Society. Others have sought refuge with
relatives.
Sitting with his five children and his wife in a 5x3 metre tent in the
Sarkano District of eastern Kunar Province, Shah Bahar cried over the
loss of his house and property.
"I lost all the earnings of my life…I will not be able to recover what I
have lost in the flood," said the 39-year-old man whose grocery shop had
also been washed away.
In another affected province, Panjshir, displaced families live in tents
set up near their destroyed or damaged houses.
Long-term assistance
Deedar Shalizai, the governor of Kunar, told IRIN on 4 July that people
affected by the floods would require long-term assistance to ease their
hardship and enable them to rebuild their livelihoods.
"Many people will restart their lives from scratch," said Shalizai.
The government of Afghanistan has approved a bill, according to which
families will receive 10,000 Afghani (US$100) for each dead person,
ANDMA confirmed.
However, flood victims are unlikely to get government aid to rebuild
their livelihoods.
"The government may only help rebuild damaged schools, roads and other
public properties," the director of ANDMA said.
In Kunar and Panjshir provinces children, who have not gone to school
for over a week, play near the tents, now considered their homes.
No outbreaks of waterborne diseases, including diarrhoea, have been
reported so far. However, Afghanistan's Ministry of Public Health, in
collaboration with UNICEF, has decided to distribute water purification
tablets and 50,000 Oral Rehydration Salts sachets as a preventive measure.
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