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FROM THE FIELD

Afghanistan: digging in to survive the cold
14 Feb 2008 04:12:00 GMT
 Source: International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) - Switzerland
Ali Hakimi

Website: Website: http://www.ifrc.org

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Red Crescent volunteers distribute relief items donated by the European Commission Humanitarian Aid department (ECHO) to people affected by the cold snap in Sabzi Kar village in Afghanistan’s Balkh province
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Red Crescent volunteers distribute relief items donated by the European Commission Humanitarian Aid department (ECHO) to people affected by the cold snap in Sabzi Kar village in Afghanistan’s Balkh province
IFRC

Background

•  Asia extreme cold

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In Afghanistan, the Red Cross Red Crescent is supporting thousands of people affected by the recent, ferocious cold snap.

Heavy snow-falls accompanied by extremely cold weather have created havoc across Afghanistan in recent weeks. According to Afghan authorities, more than 750 have people died since the start of winter whilst access to some remote districts has been cut. In Herat province in western Afghanistan, 30 people have lost their fingers to the cold.

In northern Afghanistan, the bitter winter has been particularly cruel for dozens of families who were forced off their land by last summer's drought, many of whom migrated to the town of Sang Toda in Sar-e-Pul province.

"I was a farmer and used to farm my land in Shiram village of Sar-e-Pul province but continuous drought compelled me and my family to leave our home," explains Abdul Rasul, an IDP living in Sang Toda.

Without homes, families have to find other ways to shelter from the cold.

"We dug into the ground and made a room to protect ourselves from the cold -- otherwise we wouldn't have survived in this harsh winter," said Abdul Rasul.

"The internally displaced people (IDP) are living in a particularly bad situation," says Pepe Salmela, the head of International Federation's delegation in Afghanistan. "They don't have access to fuel to warm themselves and so are forced to forage for small pieces of wood in the mountains."

Shayda Hanan, a five-year-old girl, whose face and hands have become grey due in the chilly weather, is trying to help her family. "I help my family to collect wood to warm our tent," she says.

Some days ago three people - two children and a woman - died in the area. They had gone out to collect wood from the mountains and succumbed to hypothermia

A call for help

The Afghan Red Crescent Society, with support from the International Federation, has provided assistance to hundreds of affected families, distributing tents, plastic sheets, kitchen sets, blankets and jerry cans as well as rice, cooking oil, beans and fuel for fires.

As well as focusing efforts on helping IDPs, the Red Cross Red Crescent is also providing assistance to other particularly vulnerable communities and families.

Khan Padsha lives with her four children in Sabzi Kar, a village about 40 kilometres outside of Mazar-e-Sharif in northern Afghanistan. Her husband died 10 years ago. Two weeks ago, her house was destroyed by water that was diverted by a build up of ice in a nearby river.

"After the heavy snow fall some parts of the river froze and the water could not pass by its normal way and therefore broke into our houses," she explains.

"It was four o'clock in the morning when I noticed the water coming inside. I woke the children and took them to a neighbour's house. As I do not have any income source these days, after my house was destroyed it became even more difficult to support my family. We rely upon the neighbours and relatives who provide food for me and my children,"

The Red Crescent has provided Khan Padsha and her children with a tent and blankets. But as the cold weather continues, families like hers will need much more assistance.


[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]

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[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]

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