Members of the ACT Afghanistan Forum have been assisting communities affected by the one of the country's harshest winters in close to 30 years and are now planning further rehabilitation assistance. In addition, ACT members are currently involved in preparing for a potential flood emergency as the snows melt.

ACT members report that in some areas the temperatures fell as low as minus 25 degrees Celsius, causing fatalities and the need for basic assistance with food, fuel and shelter. Some families have had to resort to eating stocks of seeds. Many livestock died and remaining livestock are critically at risk. Some animals are too weak to feed their young and cannot breed. Damage to underground irrigation water systems is also contributing to the negative impact on the livelihoods of communities.

Christian Aid's local partners in Herat province report that farmers were unable to plow and prepare the land for rain-fed cultivation due to the longer period of snow in the districts Gulran and Kohsan where the majority of the population rely on animal husbandry and rain-fed agriculture for their livelihoods.

Hungarian Interchurch Aid (HIA) conducted a preliminary damage assessment survey in early March in the most severely affected districts of Balkh province including Sholgara, Keshendeh and Dehadadi. During the survey, HIA held meetings with the local shuras, community members, NGOs as well as other authorities. The main problems that emerged were a loss of harvest, an inability to cultivate new crops due to the lack of resources and frozen land, and a high loss of livestock. The cold wave has had a negative impact on the whole market economy of Balkh province.

Currently, temperatures are rising up to 17 degrees Celsius, causing the mountain snow to melt. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), 23 provinces are at risk of overflowing rivers and flooding. Due to the expected scale of damages, the Afghan government and UN agencies have requested external assistance from the international community including food stocks, blankets, tarpaulins, gabions and sandbags.

ACT Afghanistan Forum members including Christian Aid, Church World Service (CWS), Hungarian Interchurch Aid (HIA) and Norwegian Church Aid (NCA) have been coordinating their response and planning additional assistance.

Response to date

Herat province

Christian Aid provided food packages and non-food items (NFIs) to 509 families from 14 different villages in Kohsan district of Herat province through its local partner, RAADA, to a value GBP 20,000. Each package contained 25kg rice, 50kg flour, 4.5kg cooking oil, 4kg lentil, 2 blankets, 1kg tea and 2kg sugar. The emergency packages are expected to last for a month for a family of six members.

Christian Aid with support (USD 60,000) from ACT member, ICCO en KerkinActie, provided food and NFIs to 765 families from 25 different villages in the Gulran district of Herat Province through its implementing partner AHDAA. Each package contained 25kg rice, 50kg flour, 4.5kg cooking oil, 4kg lentil, 2 blanket, 1kg tea and 2kg sugar.

Faryab province

In order to address the priority needs in the Qaramgul, Qurghan, Bilchiragh and Kuhistan districts of Faryab province, Norwegian Church Aid (NCA) is working in close cooperation with the Faryab Emergency coordination group, which consists of provincial administration, UN agencies and NGOs.

NCA provided 167 affected families in Qaramqul district and 132 families in Qurghan district with NFI packages containing 1 tent, 2 blankets, 2 plastic sheets and 1 water container. In the districts of Qaramgul and Birchiragh, food packages were given to 500 families containing wheat flour (49 kg), rice (24.5), oil, sugar (5kg), beans (5kg), tea (2kg), salt (5kg) and coal (28kg). Animal fodder weighing 52.17 metric ton and worth USD 40,000 was purchased in Kabul and distributed in two districts of Faryab province (Kohistan and Qaramqul), providing for close to 10,000 animals.

Baghlan and Balkh provinces

At the beginning of January 2008, Hungarian Interchurch Aid (HIA) supported 720 families affected by the heavy winter with 105 kg coal per family (total of 75,600 kg) in the Khoja Alwan (Etehad) returnees camp near to Pul-i-Khumri in Baghlan province in cooperation with the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

At the beginning of February, HIA provided heating, isolation and food items including oil, tea, sugar, salt, rice and beans to 2,400 persons (400 families) in Baghlan province supported by USD 49,340 from the ACT Rapid Response Fund (RRF). The food supplies covered one month of an average family's food needs.

HIA is coordinating with agencies including UN bodies, other NGOs and the Afghanistan National Disaster management Authorities (ANDMA).

Central and eastern region

Church World Service (CWS) reports that the situation was not as dire in their operational areas in the central and eastern part of the country and they have not responded to this emergency.

Further planned response

Christian Aid's two partners RAADA and AHDAA are planning assistance for affected communities in Herat province through rehabilitation of their main livelihood sources. This may include distribution of sheep as part of an animal loan program along with veterinary services and training. Animal shelters may also be constructed through a cash for work program.

NCA has submitted a USD 1,000,000 proposal to the Royal Norwegian Embassy for community disaster preparedness and training combined with physical infrastructure construction for flood mitigation.

To help revive agricultural and pastoral activities, HIA is planning to provide fertilisers, seeds, saplings, pesticides and compost for agricultural land. Livestock and fodder will also be distributed. Food distribution will take place in collaboration with the UN World Food Programme (WFP). Work will be undertaken to repair canals and construction material will be given. The assistance is planned for the most affected villages in the Balkh province districts of Sholgara, Keshendeh and Dehadadi.

CWS is closely monitoring the food security situation in the country and is planning to implement a food security project focusing on southern and central part of Afghanistan with imported food commodities, as purchasing locally could skyrocket the market prices, thus creating even harsher environment for the local population. Another area of focus for CWS is a possible response to expected floods in the country.

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Action by Churches Together (ACT) International is a global alliance of churches and related agencies working to save lives and support communities in emergencies worldwide.

MEDIA CONTACT:
Sidney Traynham ACT Communications +41 22 791 6711 (office) +41 79 681 1868 (mobile) sjt@act-intl.org