OCHA Situation Report No. 5 Iran - Drought 15 December 2000
SITUATION 1. Iran is facing the harsh consequences of two consecutive years of drought. A meagre 140 mm of rain fell on the country this year; a figure well below the annual average of 260 mm. This has been the worst drought since 1964 and has affected about 37 million people, in other words over 50 % of the country's population, in 18 of the 28 provinces. 2. The UN Inter-Agency fact-finding mission deployed under OCHA's leadership in July and August, and composed of representatives from UNICEF, FAO, WHO and UNESCO, with the support of UNDP, warned of a possible humanitarian catastrophe. According to a brief report received from UNDP Tehran, although recent rains mainly over the north west of the country and along the Caspian coast somewhat improved the situation, precipitation is uneven and some parts of the country are still relying on tankers to bring in their water supply. Considering that almost 80% of drinking water wells have been running dry, the water table has dropped, salt water has seeped into the drinking water supply, and some locations are experiencing total drought, much time and substantial rainfall will be needed for Iran to recover from this disaster. 3. According to FAO, the estimate for this year's wheat production has been revised down to around 8 million tons, a figure some 700,000 tons lower than last year's drought-reduced crop and almost 2 million tons below Iran's five year average. The livestock sector has been heavily affected, with an estimated 800,000 animals dying of starvation and disease. Consequently, far less animals can be expected to breed, and the situation is expected to worsen early next year, even if there is adequate rain. Many herders have had to sell livestock and migrate to cities. NATIONAL RESPONSE 4. The Iranian Minister for Energy pointed out early in November that per capita water resources had fallen by more than 75 percent over the previous 44 years. Government estimates put the total damages at some USD 3.5 billion, with the hardest hit areas in the southern, central and eastern provinces. Two consecutive summers of drought leading to lakes, rivers and pastures drying up have forced rural populations to seek refuge in urban areas. 5. In this respect, the Government of Iran concentrated its efforts on different actions such as providing water tankers, domestic water purifiers, food supplies and fodder to meet the immediate needs of people and livestock. It also approved a USD 290 million emergency aid package, to be delivered primarily in the form of loans and grants. 6. The Government has also set up Drought Mitigation Committees in provincial centres to combat the effects of the drought. The Committees operate under the direction of the Ministry of Interior's Disaster Task Force (DTF). The DTF is responsible for co-ordinating the efforts of several Ministries, provincial governments, and international donors, in co-ordination with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In a bid to rule out all but the most essential consumption water, the Parliament of Iran has approved the outlines of a bill for setting up a "Water Council." The Government is also close to setting up a regional hydrology forecast bureau to obtain mid and long-term hydrology forecasts for Iran and the Asian region. The centre will be created to forecast droughts, torrential rains, flash floods, snow melting periods and climatic change. INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE United Nations Response: 7. The Government of Italy has provided approximately USD 1.8 million through UNDP. The funds have been used to purchase 35 units of 12,000-litre mobile water tanker trucks and these will be delivered, in instalments, by 20 December. In relation to longer-term issues, UNDP is supporting a number of projects to combat desertification and drought and has made available USD 60,000. A land and water management program in the Hable-Rud basin addresses the issue of land use in the highlands and river basins. A number of pipeline projects to address the root causes of recurrent droughts are to be supported by UNDP and the Global Environmental Facility (GEF). The UNDP budget for the Hable-Rud desertification project is USD 372,000 and the GEF funded project for Carbon Sequestration in the Desertified Rangelands of Hossein Abad in Khorassan Province is budgeted at USD 736,000 subject to approval. In addition, a sub-regional workshop will be held by UNDP in Iran in the first quarter of 2001 to discuss medium and long-term strategies for drought preparedness, to establish links for regional drought response and to develop regional mitigation activities. This workshop will also be a form for discussion of the water management policies best suited to reducing the effects of drought, in particular water security and water conservation. The possibility of establishing an early warning regional research and training centre for climatic forecasting of droughts and floods will also be mooted. 8. The United Kingdom's contribution of USD 600,000 may also be used for water tankers and UNICEF is currently negotiating this with the UK. UNICEF has donated USD 75,000 towards the provision of safe drinking water. 9. UNHCR has assisted in the voluntary repatriation of an estimated 165,000 Afghan refugees, in keeping with the Joint UNHCR/Government Program for Voluntary Repatriation of Afghan Refugees. UNHCR continues to assist Afghan refugees. The number of Afghan refugees still remaining in Iran is estimated to 1.2 - 1.4 million. 10. WFP has provided food assistance and support for repatriation to Afghan and Iraqi refugees in Iran through its Protracted Relief and Recovery Operation (PRRO-Iran). This aims to provide food assistance for the most vulnerable refugees in designated camps, including edible oil rations as an incentive for primary school girls in camps to continue with their schooling. WFP is assisting in the repatriation of refugees by providing refugees with food repatriation packages. 11. The Government of Norway has made available a substantial number of plastic, foldable tankers and water reservoirs from the WFP managed UN Humanitarian Response Depot in Brindisi, to a total value of USD 124,800. Their in-kind donation includes 20x 5,000-liter pillowtanks, 3x 10,000-liter water reservoirs, 4x 30,000-liter water reservoirs and 60x 7,500-liter water tankers. The Iranian Ministry of the Interior is clearing these through Customs. 12. OCHA has provided USD 60,000, in part from its own resources (USD 30,000) and in part from funds prepositioned with OCHA by the Government of Norway (USD 30,000). 13. Other UN agencies including FAO, WHO, UNFPA and UNESCO have also been assisting in assessing the impact of the drought and helping to mobilize international support. Further International Response: 14. IFRC launched an appeal for Drought Support to Afghan Refugees in August, seeking over CHF 2,268,000 (USD 1,260,000) to assist 100,000 beneficiaries for a period of 12 months. The main Red Cross/Red Crescent objectives are to increase the water supply to camps in Zahedan and Zabul in the province of Sistan-Baluchistan, and, whenever possible and necessary, to cities and their surrounding areas, to carry out community based sanitation campaigns in the Afghan refugee camps, and to establish community based preventive health care schemes as well as to promote hygiene. 15. The European Commission/ECHO has channelled humanitarian aid for Iran of EUR 400,000 (USD 370,000) through the Dutch Red Cross and the Iranian Red Crescent Society for projects designed to increase the public water supply (wells and mobile tankers) for the most vulnerable people living in the drought-affected provinces of Sistan-Baluchistan and Khorassan. 16. In all, contributions reported to OCHA to date amount to USD 3.3 million. Contributions to this disaster may be found by clicking on Financial Tracking at the top of the page for this disaster on the OCHA Internet Website (http://www.reliefweb.int). Donors are requested to verify this table and inform OCHA Geneva of corrections/additions/values. Donors are encouraged to notify OCHA Geneva of their contributions to this disaster using the OCHA Standardized Contributions Recording Format, available electronically in the above mentioned Financial Tracking Website. 17. This situation report, together with the inter-agency assessment report and further information on ongoing emergencies, is also available on the OCHA Internet Website at http://www.reliefweb.int Telephone: +41-22-917 12 34 Fax: +41-22-917 00 23 In case of emergency only: Tel. +41-22-917 20 10 Desk Officers: Ms. S. Metzner-Strack / Mr. R. Mueller / Mr. S. Matsuka Direct Tel. +41-22-917 21 44 / 31 31 / 40 34 Press contact: (in GVA) Mr. Donato Kiniger-Passigli, direct Tel. +41-22-917 26 53 (in NY) Ms. Phyllis Lee, direct Tel. +1-212-963 48 32 distributed by - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Volunteers in Technical Assistance Disaster Information Center lists: www.vita.org/listsub.htm sitreps nat-dsr web: www.vita.org fireline - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
: 01/04/01 EST