Flood victims continue to suffer despite emergency response

Following heavy flooding in the Shamali region in the northern province of Parvan on 18 April, the Afghan government and aid community are still trying to cope with the consequences, with over 1,000 families still under threat if further heavy rains occur. The United Nations reported that 25 affected families had been taken to a camp set up by Afghan government five kilometres from Bagram Air Base on the road to the capital, Kabul.

"There are 1,500 flood-prone families living in 30 villages who could end up in this camp if there is further flooding," David Singh, a media relations officer of UN Assistance Mission for Afghanistan (UNAMA), told IRIN in Kabul, noting that these families had stayed in the flooded area on higher ground, probably in the open, but with access to health facilities and water.

To respond to this natural disaster, the Afghan government, UN agencies and aid organisations held an emergency meeting 20 April to discuss launching immediate responses to the flooded regions in the Shamali plains.

"The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and United Nations Children's Fund have decided to supply 200 tents, 200 plastic sheets, 400 jerry cans, 200 hurricane lamps and 200 kg of soap, hygiene items for 200 families, 200 stoves and 1,200 blankets," Singh said, adding that the Afghan Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation would distribute these to affected families.

"World Food Programme will be providing food aid to wherever the people are," he said, noting that the US had also supplied some food and non-food items to the affected families staying in the camps near Bagram Air Base.

The floods affected four villages in Sayyed Khayl District of Parvan Province, located in the delta between the Ghowr Band and Panjshir rivers. According to initial reports by UNAMA, three children had been reported missing and up to 160 ha of land affected by the flood. "The water had subsided by Sunday [20 April], but there is still a risk of further flooding, so it is not safe for the families to return to their homes," Singh said.

Meanwhile, while the aid community has responded to families affected by the flooding on the Shamali plains, people continue to suffer in southern Afghanistan following heavy flooding on 18 April in Helmand Province. The UN and aid agencies have sent emergency teams to assess the flood damage, but no assistance has been delivered so far.

"A joint mission of United Nations Assistance Mission for Afghanistan, United Nations Office for Project Services and Islamic Relief, a UK-based agency, travelled on Monday to Kajaki and Baghran districts in Helmand Province to assess the damage caused by the floods," Singh said, noting that the people there had received no assistance yet.

The flooding occurred as a result of heavy rains in the Saghaw valley and Sokhtray village of Baghran District.

According to UNAMA, the floods were very severe and roads were blocked from Delaram to Helmand and from Kandahar to Spin Buldak. While AFP reported that at least 30 had been killed, Singh said the district commissioner and head of the police of Baghran had confirmed to UNAMA that only a woman was killed and seven houses washed away, adding that the floods had destroyed orchards and caused erosion in all these areas. "The livestock of Kuchis [nomads] was also damaged," he said.

As Afghanistan continues to experience repeated natural disasters over the past months or two, the government's office for disaster preparedness (OPD) - the country's only natural disaster response authority - claims that any emergency response is beyond its capability.

"We have no communicational means with our offices in the provinces, and hear of the incidences from radios and newspapers," Qazi Tajuddin, the head of Kabul-based ODP, told IRIN on Monday, noting that ODP was subordinate to the prime minister's office, which took a minimum of a week to authorise the OPD to mount an emergency response.

"Even if we are granted assistance by an aid agency to distribute for needy, we have to get it authorised from higher organs," Tajuddin said, calling on the government to make ODP independent so that it could attract assistance and take necessary measures to effect preparedness for any emergencies country-wide in a timely manner.