AFGHANISTAN: UN sending emergency assistance to Badakhshan flood victims

[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

KABUL, 20 Jun 2005 (IRIN) - Aid organisations in Afghanistan are rushing emergency assistance to devastated areas of Badakhshan province in the northeast of the country, following heavy flooding which killed at least 50 people and destroyed more than 1,000 homes in several villages on Friday, according to the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development (MRRD).

The MRRD said that flash floods had hit the provinces of Badakhshan, Takhar, Sar-e-Pul, Faryab, Jozjan and Smanagan on Thursday and Friday but that Badakhshan suffered the most.

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) reported that both food and non-food emergency supplies, including tents and blankets, had been dispatched to Faizabad the provincial capital of Badakhshan over the past two days.

The MRRD has also airlifted 1,000 tents and 4,000 blankets for further distribution, officials said on Monday. Furthermore, a total of 88 mt of World Food Programme (WFP) assistance including wheat, oil, salt and pulses sufficient for nearly 9,000 people is on its way to reach 1,450 households in flood-affected areas.

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has also sent aid packages out, including 1,100 family kits and other non-food items to the disaster area.

The shipments follow a joint assessment of affected areas carried out over the weekend by three teams, two of which travelled by helicopter throughout the province, WFP officials said. The teams reported widespread destruction in at least 65 villages. Thousand of livestock had been killed, nearly 28,000 trees destroyed and over 658 hectares of land laid waste by the storm, said WFP officials.

"Badakhshan is one of the most remote and poverty-stricken provinces in Afghanistan. The flood will have a devastating effect on people who already live with a great deal of food insecurity," said WFP Afghanistan representative Charles Vincent.

WFP is working to clear and rebuild roads covered in heavy mud to allow food agency trucks through with non-food items such as blankets, tarpaulins and tents from Faizabad airport to affected families in outlying villages.

"The hard work in Badakhshan has only just begun. Once the initial emergency aid has been delivered, WFP and partners will also be working hard to rehabilitate lost infrastructure. There are roads, canals and bridges to be rebuilt," said Vincent.

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