Displaced people stream into Herat

Over a period of six days from 11 to 16 December, just under 800 displaced families, or 4,600 people, have streamed into a camp outside Herat city in western Afghanistan. Of the six camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Herat, five were already full, according to a statement by the Office of the UN Coordinator for Afghanistan. Many families began leaving their homes in western Afghanistan as early as June this year due to severe drought which resulted in crop losses averaging 75 percent, and a 50 percent reduction in livestock. By early October, 2,000 families had arrived in Herat City. However, arrivals to Herat slowed when an emergency food aid programme was implemented to assist families in their places of origin in Ghor, Badghis, Herat and Farah Provinces. The UN statement on Friday said arrivals had once again picked up and as a result the Herat camps were now housing over 11,000 families, or 68,000 people. What was not known was how many people in western Afghanistan had gravitated into Herat City itself and not registered at the camps, or how many had crossed the border. Due to an insufficient response to funding requests, conditions in the camps were poor. In the newest and largest camp, Maslagh, new arrivals had to sleep out in the open air despite freezing temperatures. A few tents provided by the ICRC and the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) provided shelter by squeezing three families into one tent. The UN said the current shortfall was “at least 2,500 shelters” as well as all non-food items including blankets and quilts. “Most of the families in the camps have few assets and therefore are in need of both food and non-food items. Complicating matters further, the World Food Programme (WFP) will run out of food in April next year if further pledges are not forthcoming,” the statement said. As long as weather conditions permit, it was expected that more displaced would continue to arrive in Herat. As a result the city’s labour market had declined dramatically. Seven months ago, Herat was the most affluent city in the country with the strongest labour market. “Now Herat is unable to keep pace with the increasing strain being placed on it by a desperate rural population,” the statement said. Newcomers to the labour market were by far the highest in the country (77 percent), the availability of labour the lowest (36 percent), and the fall in ‘real’ value of earnings from last year, the largest (49 percent). The drought that has plagued the country has endangered the lives of around 300,000 people in the western region. “The area of distress is now starting to enlarge and reports are being received of displaced persons moving to other areas of western Afghanistan in search of assistance. Moreover even assisted areas have received aid to carry them through early spring,” the UN statement said.