Reuters AlertNet Lite - AFGHANISTAN: Flood-affected families need shelter before winter

Reuters AlertNet Full site

NEWSDESK

AFGHANISTAN: Flood-affected families need shelter before winter

01 Jul 2009 10:22:51 GMT
Source: IRIN

Background

• Afghan turmoil

• South East Asia Monsoon

• Asia extreme cold

• Floods

KABUL, 1 July 2009 (IRIN) - Thousands of people who lost their houses in January-May flooding in different parts of Afghanistan need help to repair or rebuild their homes, or find new ones, before winter.

"Where houses are damaged or completely destroyed, people are in urgent need of shelter," Asif Khairkhwa, chairman of the Afghan Red Crescent Society (ARCS) in the northern province of Balkh, told IRIN. "People should have a shelter before the winter."

Similar concerns were echoed by officials in Takhar, Sar-i-Pul, Baghlan and Badakhshan provinces, where thousands of houses have been damaged by floods and avalanches over the past six months.

"Emergency shelter continues to be a primary gap in the response," said OCHA's flood situation report [see: http://ochaonline.un.org/HumanitarianUpdates/tabid/5289/language/en-US/Default.aspx] on 15 June.

The floods killed at least 66 people and affected over 21,000 families in the northern and northeastern provinces, according to reports by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Aid agencies and the Afghan government provided emergency assistance.

In some flood-affected provinces government officials said there were no funds which could be used to help people rebuild their homes. The only feasible solution, they said, was to distribute tents. However, even tents are not available for all.

"We even don't have adequate tents to distribute to those in need…We only have 150 tents for 800 families," Khairkhwa, the ARCS chairman in Balkh, said.

According to an OCHA map of unmet needs in flood-affected areas [see: http://reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900sid/LPAA-7TGBYP?OpenDocument&cc=afg], thousands of tents and/or temporary shelters are needed in a number of affected provinces.

Roads still blocked

Many flood-affected roads are impassable, meaning that aid cannot get through to people in some places, according to provincial authorities and OCHA.

"Roads to six districts are still closed while people in those districts need aid," said Sayed Nasir Hemat, ARCS's head in the northeastern province of Badakhshan. The blocked roads had also meant people could not access health services in some cases, and had increased food prices, he said.

Assessments by OCHA and other agencies have identified an urgent need to clear roads in Faryab, Takhar, Baghlan and Samangan provinces.

However, Ghulam Haider, an adviser to the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development, said the government had allocated funds only for the reopening of roads blocked by snow and avalanches. There were insufficient funds to repair and reopen flood-damaged roads: "Repairing these roads requires millions of dollars," he told IRIN.

ad/at/cb

Email this article Send comments

Topics

• Floods

MORE >>

Emergencies

• Asia extreme cold

• Afghan turmoil

MORE >>

NGO latest

• Afghanistan accedes to Additional Protocols I and II in historic step to limit wartime suffering
ICRC - Switzerland

• Afghanistan accedes to Additional Protocols I and II in historic step to limit wartime suffering
ICRC - Switzerland

• ICRC survey shows disturbing impact of hostilities on civilians
ICRC - Switzerland

• Indian Grassroots Women Build Disaster Resilience through Community Led Planning, Mapping, Institution Building and Risk Reduction Initiatives
SSP - India

• Peter Rees-Gildea
Red Cross - Ireland

MORE >>

Latest news

• Journals - Disasters - Disasters

• AFGHANISTAN: Flood-affected families need shelter before winter

• Q+A-The new U.S. strategy in Afghanistan

• Ban on Turkish dam construction to be lifted

• FACTBOX-Security developments in Pakistan, July 1

MORE >>

IRIN news

Background information

Briefings

Asia extreme cold - [Who works where]

Afghan turmoil - [Who works where]

Topics

Floods

Facts & figures

Afghanistan

Statistics graphs

Landmine casualties (2007)

View more stats

Breaking stories

Journals - Disasters - Disasters (1 minute ago)

AFGHANISTAN: Flood-affected families need shelter before winter (1 minute ago)

AlertNet insight

World facing new displacement crisis - UN refugee chief (1 minute ago)

Aid agency news feed

Afghanistan accedes to Additional Protocols I and II in historic step to limit wartime suffering (1 minute ago)

Blogs

Climate adaptation funding proposed by Britain must be spent wisely (1 minute ago)

Maps

AFGHANISTAN Takhar Area Multi Temporal Comparison of River State (1 minute ago)

Del.icio.us | Digg

Digg |

NewsVine | Reddit

Latest images

Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2009-06-29T161701Z_01_ISL02_RTRIDSP_2_PAKISTAN-VIOLANCE_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/ISL02.htm

Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2009-06-29T155609Z_01_ISL01_RTRIDSP_2_PAKISTAN-VIOLENCE_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/ISL01.htm

Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2009-06-29T143520Z_01_KAB04_RTRIDSP_2_AFGHANISTAN-VIOLENCE_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/KAB04.htm

Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2009-06-28T161142Z_01_PEJ07_RTRIDSP_2_CZECH-FLOODS_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/PEJ07.htm

Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2009-06-28T160954Z_01_PEJ04_RTRIDSP_2_CZECH-FLOODS_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/PEJ04.htm

Pakistani servicemen honour fallen Pakistani soldier Zeeshan Saeed during funeral ceremonies in Dera Ismail Khan, located in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province June 29, 2009. Saeed was killed after Taliban militants ...

More pictures | Galleries

Last updated:Wed Jul 1 10:22:59 2009

Background

Topics

Emergencies

NGO latest

Latest news

Background information

Related articles