IDP situation in Herat worsens

The situation for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Herat has deteriorated considerably in the past few weeks, according to a recent report by Medecins sans Frontieres (MSF). It said over 10,000 people had been moved from the inner parts of town to the ill-equipped and already over crowded Shayadee-camp, with an estimated 3,500 remaining outside. The Shayadee-camp housed some 14,000 people, many of them new arrivals from the provinces of Ghor and eastern Badghis, who had fled the drought and an expected harsh winter. Sanitary conditions were particularly poor in the camp, while those remaining outside the camp had no sanitary conditions or shelter against the wind. Aside from a daily bread ration from the Red Crescent, there had been limited assistance. MSF, coordinating the assistance in the Shayadee-camp, said registration and distribution of shelter and other relief items had started.