IRIN
AFGHANISTAN: Floods expected following harsh winter
10 March 2005


[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United 
Nations]

KABUL, 10 March (IRIN) - Following the harshest winter Afghanistan has 
seen in a decade, the risk of flooding remains high in some parts of the 
country as temperatures improve and snows begin to melt in mountainous 
areas, according to aid organisations in the Afghan capital Kabul.

In western Badghis province, reports indicated that early flooding in 
the Jauwand, Gardes and Murghab districts had forced some families to 
leave their houses in Panjab, Manoel de Almeida e Silva, a spokesman for 
United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), said on 
Thursday in Kabul.

"A joint UN mission bringing together a number of UN agencies was 
deployed to Badghis province to look at the situation on the ground and 
provide technical support to the provisional task force," the spokesman 
said, adding that the team's initial assessment would be available later 
on Thursday.

According to UNAMA, with spring fast approaching, potential floods 
affecting the country remained a source of concern. "This country has 
had to deal with floods in the past, but this year, with much greater 
snow falling, the risks are greater," he said earlier.

That sentiment was shared by Afghans on the streets of the capital. "Our 
country was affected by severe drought over the past few years and there 
hadn't been too much snow. But this winter was very harsh with heavy 
snow and when all that snow starts to melt many people could be in 
trouble," Masoud, 21, a resident of Kabul, told IRIN, pointing to the 
snowy peaks of high mountains surrounding the city.

In the capital, more than 85 Kabul municipality workers - supported by 
the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and UNAMA - were now 
working on cleaning and deepening the Kabul river bed to prevent the 
river from bursting its banks due to anticipated high waters.

Efforts from various bodies to mitigate the flood risk are also now 
under way. In the western province of Herat, a regional flood 
contingency plan has been endorsed by the combined disaster management 
team, chaired by the country's deputy minister of rural rehabilitation 
and development.

Also, joint missions, including government agencies and UN bodies have 
been deployed to some western provinces to assess the level of disaster 
preparedness there. More than 100 NGOs in the region took part in an 
emergency meeting on Wednesday to discuss the situation there while 
identifying the role that they could play in the disaster risk 
mitigation effort.

"In [the northern] Balkh province, assessment teams have been deployed 
to all districts to make flood-vulnerability assessments. The teams are 
comprised of government personnel, NGO and UN staff," Almeida e Silva 
explained.

"In the central highlands area, a provisional task force on flood 
preparedness is being established in Bamian and focal points in each 
district of the province are also in the process of being identified," 
he added.

In some provinces, special task groups had been established while in 
others single disaster response committees were in place.

At the national level, a joint operations centre, bringing together a 
broad spectrum of humanitarian actors - government, the Coalition, the 
International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), the UN and others - was 
being established at UNAMA with real time information.

Plagued by conflict for more than 20 years, Afghanistan is prone to 
various natural disasters, including earthquakes, avalanches, floods and 
landslides. Flooding and mudslides are common, particularly in the 
spring when snow starts melting. It is estimated that natural disasters 
have killed more than 19,000 people and affected about 7.5 million 
Afghans since the early 1980s, according to a recent report by UNEP.


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Copyright (c) UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 
2005


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