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FROM THE FIELD

Emergency Flood Response in Afghanistan
29 May 2009 15:01:00 GMT
 Source: Medair - Switzerland
Medair

Website: Website: http://www.medair.org

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International NGO Medair is responding to the immediate humanitarian needs generated by extreme rainfall and flooding in Afghanistan.
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International NGO Medair is responding to the immediate humanitarian needs generated by extreme rainfall and flooding in Afghanistan.

Background

•  South East Asia Monsoon

•  Floods

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Spring floods and landslides have killed over 60 and injured many more people living in northern provinces of Afghanistan. Cool weather delayed the usual thaw until heavy rains began in April, causing flash floods and landslides. Important infrastructure like roads, bridges, dams, drinking water systems, and irrigation canals has been destroyed or damaged.

Medair's Emergency Response Team has been surveying districts in the mountainous province of Badakhshan, where the organization has been working since 2002. In Yawan, just one of the districts surveyed, estimates indicate that over 400 homes have been destroyed. Livestock and farmland have been hit hard, causing drastic losses of livelihood and food supplies in the months to come.

Men of Adnil village in Yawan report a massive landslide that struck while the men were at four a.m. prayers. "We heard shouting and screaming from the women and children, so we ran back and saw that our village was collapsing and sliding down the mountain. We dragged everybody out of the houses and we escaped up the mountain. Nobody died but all the animals are dead. We could see dead animals in the branches of the trees."

Medair was able to work swiftly with other NGOs to provide emergency relief for Adnil within days of the disaster. "Thank you Medair for responding so quickly to our emergency and distributing food and boots to our community," says village leader Mohammed Daad. "In my lifetime I have never seen devastation like this - 70 homes disappeared in one day."

Over the next two months, Medair will assist approximately 250 families whose homes have been destroyed by providing temporary shelter, food, and non-food items, especially blankets. Yawan district, where Medair's intervention is taking place, is one of the hardest hit areas in the province. Medair has already a presence in this region with ongoing projects, notably a Disaster Risk Reduction programme. Medair staff have been working with 25 villages to help mitigate the effects of natural disasters like the current one. These places, which are very remote and lack good roads, are the most underserved and have the least resources.

"It is critical to be here with the affected families and identify exactly what help is now required," says Emma Le Beau, Project Manager of Medair's Emergency Response Project. "If it takes us days to reach even a small population, this is where we find the most vulnerable people, suffering without hope of assistance."

For media, contact Janneke de Kruijf - Media Officer. E-mail: Janneke.dekruijf@medair.org. Tel. +41 78 635 3095

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Medair brings life-saving relief and rehabilitation in disasters, conflict areas, and other crises by working alongside the most vulnerable. Its internationally recruited staff are motivated by their Christian faith to care for people in need, providing practical and compassionate support, regardless of race, religion, or politics. Founded in 1989, Medair has an unwavering commitment to bring hope to the world's most vulnerable.

In Afghanistan, Medair provides essential health care (in four permanent clinics and over 40 health posts), as well as water and sanitation to the people of Wardak province, and in the Ragh, Yawan, and Kohistan districts in Badakhshan province.

Medair's Disaster Risk Reduction Programme in Afghanistan is supported with the assistance of TEAR Fund New Zealand and DG-ECHO (European Community Humanitarian Aid Department). Other activities in health services, water and sanitation, food security, and construction are supported by USAID/WHO/MOPH, UNFPA, DG-ECHO, MCC/CFGB, Hirzel Foundation, and EO-Metterdaad. To learn more, visit www.medair.org.




[ 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. ]

Background information

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