IRIN
AFGHANISTAN: Flood aid delivered to Samangan province
25 April 2006


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

KABUL, 25 April (IRIN) - Government officials have started aid 
distribution to nearly 500 families affected by recent flooding in the 
northern Afghan province of Samangan, officials said on Tuesday in the 
capital, Kabul.

Flooding caused by heavy rains in the Khuram Wa Sarbagh district of the 
province destroyed 30 houses and damaged another 76 last week. It also 
destroyed 750 hectares of farmland in the province, according to 
officials at the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development 
(MRRD).

"Our office in Samangan, along with other governmental organisations 
such as the Afghan Red Crescent Society (ARCS), has distributed 30 
tents, 108 plastic sheets, 216 blankets and other necessary utensils to 
the affected families," Abdurrahim Zarin, spokesman at the MRRD, said.

Commenting on this, Ebadullah Ebadi, public information officer of the 
World Food Programme (WFP) in Afghanistan, said their teams were 
assessing damage on the ground.

"WFP is working closely with government officials in flood-affected 
areas to reach the most affected families," Ebadi noted.

"Before the result of a detailed assessment we have dispatched 7.7 mt of 
mixed food commodities as a first response to the flood-affected 
families," Ebadi explained.

Meanwhile, Adrian Edwards, a spokesman for the United Nations Assistance 
Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), said the UN office was coordinating 
relief efforts with the ARCS to provide relief items for the most 
vulnerable in Samangan.

In January 2005, floods and storms left 48 people dead and more than 
1,000 injured in 13 provinces in various parts of Afghanistan. The 
worst-affected area was the northeastern province of Badakhshan where 
floods killed at least 40 people and left up to 1,000 homes destroyed in 
65 villages.


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