Flood emergency declared

Flash floods in the past two weeks have killed at least 20 people and destroyed hundreds of homes, according to the Afghanistan National Disasters Management Authority (ANDMA), which has declared a nationwide state of emergency.



“Without the state of emergency we will not be able to save lives and keep the situation under control,” Abdul Matin Edrak, director of ANDMA, told IRIN in Kabul, adding that the aim was to “mitigate the impacts of severe floods”.



ANDMA said it had held an emergency meeting with representatives of key aid agencies on 3 May to assess the humanitarian response.



At least 10 people were killed and 300 houses and 100 shops washed away by floods in Baghlan Province, northern Afghanistan, on 1-2 May, ANDMA reported. Six people were killed in Balkh Province (northern Afghanistan) and at least four deaths were reported in Badakhshan Province (northeastern Afghanistan), according to ANDMA. Deaths have also been reported in Badghis and Herat provinces, but not confirmed by ANDMA.



In Herat Province in the west and Balkh Province thousands of families were affected by floods in April, according to ANDMA.



At least 10 of the country’s 34 provinces have been affected by floods, landslides and avalanches in the past six weeks, ANDMA said. The floods had reportedly killed hundreds of livestock and damaged agricultural land; thousands of families were in urgent need of life-saving assistance, aid agencies said.



Response



Food and non-food aid items including tents, jerry cans, wheat, oil and salt have been distributed to hundreds of families in northern and western areas, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported.



Aid has been delivered by a number of UN agencies, the Afghan Red Crescent Society, various other NGOs, as well as by the NATO-led Provincial Reconstruction Teams.



“Aid activities have been better coordinated among various players,” ANDMA’s Edrak said.



However, some affected people in Balkh, Herat and Faryab provinces alleged little or no relief had reached them.



“Except for a tent from the Red Crescent, we have received no aid from anybody,” Abdul Majid, a local resident in the northern province of Faryab said.



“Two weeks have passed since we lost everything in the floods and so far no one has helped us,” said Fazl-u-Rehman from Herat Province.



Aid agencies say life-saving activities have been their priority but that longer-term assistance will be needed to help people re-establish their lives and livelihoods.



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