Urgent need for shelter in Herat

As winter temperatures drop and the fear of exposure grows, the Office of the UN Humanitarian Coordinator has make an urgent appeal for tents to provide shelter for thousands of internally-displaced people (IDPs) recently arrived in the western city of Herat. “The issue of shelter, including tents, is now critical,” spokesperson Stephanie Bunker told IRIN on Wednesday. “The severity of the situation is underscored by the assistance community in Herat having to squeeze up to three families into one tent just to give them some form of shelter.” The spokesperson’s comments came in the wake of a UN announcement on Tuesday that 100 mud-hut shelters had been handed over and 1,550 tents distributed in Maslakh Camp since early December. According to Tuesday’s statement, the British NGO Ockenden International (OI) was planning to hand over 1,340 shelters and Habitat 50 shortly thereafter. In addition, the Swiss Government has pledged to deliver 2,000 tents, it said. The average IDP flow into Herat this month has been estimated at about 80 families per day, resulting in an urgent need for some 4,300 tents to arrive in Herat within one month. “We are doing our best to mobilise, but it is difficult to keep up with this influx. There are an estimated 80,000 IDPs scattered among the six camps in the Herat area,” Bunker said.