** SHORT MENU....
AFGHANISTAN: BATTLING THE ELEMENTS: Three weeks after a violent earthquake struck the northern part of Afghanistan's Takhar province, distributions of food and other assistance continue.
SIERRA LEONE: ICRC VISITS DETAINEES HELD BY ECOMOG: ICRC delegates have begun visiting persons arrested during and after the fighting in which ECOMOG troops gained control over Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone.
KENYA: RELIEF DISTRIBUTIONS CONTINUE IN RIFT VALLEY: Following the outbreak of violence in various districts of the Rift Valley, the Kenya Red Cross Society (KRCS), working with the support of the ICRC, began on 8 February to assist thousands of internally displaced persons.
** STORIES IN FULL...
AFGHANISTAN BATTLING THE ELEMENTS
Three weeks after a violent earthquake struck the northern part of Afghanistan's Takhar province, distributions of food and other assistance continue. A second airdrop of 2,500 blankets was carried out over the town of Rostaq on 21 February, using an ICRC-chartered Hercules freight plane. The Pakistan air force also organized airdrops of relief supplies.
On 24 February a caravan of 200 donkeys loaded with blankets, tents and kitchen utensils managed to reach the villages of Ganj and Sar-i-Ghar, situated in mountainous terrain a four-hour march from Rostaq. The items were immediately distributed to the 700 families living there. Despite the bad weather in the region, supplies were also delivered by helicopter to a further six of the worst affected villages.
On the medical side, 9,000 people have been vaccinated against measles. In cooperation with the local authorities, the ICRC, supported by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, is coordinating the humanitarian aid operation and assigns the various activities to the organizations present in the field, according to their respective spheres of competence and resources. Medecins sans Frontieres covers health needs, while the World Food Programme has been placed in charge of food assistance and the ICRC is responsible for relief supplies.
"WHEN THE GROUND SWALLOWED US UP..."
Mohamed Sharif remembers that it was evening when he felt the rumblings beneath him. It all began gently at first and then suddenly the earth started shaking violently. Instinctively, he grabbed his family and dashed outside. Everyone was running frantically through the streets of this small village east of Rostaq. "It was like the ground was swallowing up the village; everything began sinking in the mud and we could see the cattle drowning. The quake had put out all the fires so it was completely dark. It was hard to keep the panic-stricken people together; everyone was rushing around not knowing what to do."
In a few seconds Mohamed lost everything he owned. The shop where he had managed to eke out a meagre existence was gone and his home was destroyed. Most of the livestock which were the means of subsistence for many of the villagers are now rotting under rubble.
Leaving his wife and children behind in the makeshift shelter he managed to put up using wood and sticks, Mohamed set off on a seven-hour walk to Rostaq, wearing only a pair of plastic sandals as he trudged knee-deep through the quagmire. When he arrived he tried to sell a bag of nuts he had gathered in the nearby forest, and then made his way to the ICRC office to write a Red Cross message to his brother, who works for the ICRC in Mazar-i-Sharif.
Mohamed Sharif's endurance is a testament to the resilience of the people of this region, which has enabled them to survive for centuries in a way which to Westerners seems reminiscent of a bygone age. Already villagers have begun to rebuild their shattered homes with whatever materials they can lay their hands on, and, in the community tradition, they are helping each other by sharing what little they have left.
For the time being Mohamed's biggest problem is shelter. He has a wife and five children, plus 10 other relatives, living under his makeshift wooden shelter, and the unusually harsh winter means that they have to fight an endless battle against the cold. "Now we have blankets", he said, "but I give them all to my children; I am so frightened that they will perish in this weather".
In the Red Cross message he sent to his brother Munir, Mohamed reassured him, explaining that "the whole village is destroyed, but the family are alive. We have decided to stay, but we don't know what will happen next. We're frightened because we have no shelter".
In the Rostaq area the cruel winter is still holding up the relief effort as the Red Cross and other agencies battle against the elements. Recent snow flurries and fog have prevented the planned airdrops from taking place as frequently as had been hoped, and the increasingly muddy roads make truck convoys hazardous at times. "The weather is not kind to us", said Red Cross coordinator Svante Yngrot, "and the conditions in which we work are probably the most challenging we have ever had to face in setting up a relief operation. Every day we try to find ways of reaching these people who are so sorely in need of help".
Further information: Joerg Stoecklin, ICRC Geneva, tel. ++4122 730 2906 Amanda Williamson, ICRC Rostaq, tel. ++873 761 242 260
SIERRA LEONE ICRC VISITS DETAINEES HELD BY ECOMOG
ICRC delegates have begun visiting persons arrested during and after the fighting in which ECOMOG troops gained control over Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone.
The ICRC team, including a doctor and a nurse, went to Freetown's Central Prison, where several hundred people arrested in the course of February are being held. The detainees include both combatants, notably regular members of the Sierra Leone armed forces and the Revolutionary United Front, and civilians. During such visits delegates register the detainees, give them a medical examination and inspect their conditions of detention.
The authorization to visit all persons held on Sierra Leonean territory controlled by ECOMOG came on 19 February and was signed by Colonel Maxwell Khobe, the commander of the ECOMOG task force in the country.
Further information: Jean-Luc Metzker, ICRC Freetown, tel. ++232 22 241 438
KENYA RELIEF DISTRIBUTIONS CONTINUE IN RIFT VALLEY
Following the outbreak of violence in various districts of the Rift Valley, the Kenya Red Cross Society (KRCS), working with the support of the ICRC, began on 8 February to assist thousands of internally displaced persons.
The distribution of non-food aid is hampered by disastrous road conditions. In Laikipia district, the trucks eventually managed to get through to places such as Ol Moran, where 1,699 displaced people had found shelter in a church and were among the first to receive blankets, clothing, kitchen sets, jerricans, soap and plastic sheeting.
In Nakuru district, where further distributions are scheduled, 12 camps for displaced persons have been located. So far, supplies have been delivered to only four of the camps, mainly because of bad road conditions in the area. A total of 3,400 people have received aid from the joint KRCS/ICRC teams to date.
In all, 30 volunteers from the Nakuru and Nyahururu branches of the KRCS have taken part in distributions covering over 5,400 internally displaced people. The National Society and the ICRC have also conducted a survey in Nyanza province, where people have been injured and forced to leave their homes as a result of the violence in recent months.
Further information: Josue Anselmo, ICRC Nairobi, tel. ++2542 716 339
New on the ICRC Public Server - http://www.icrc.org : - Update No 98/01 on ICRC activities to assist the flood victims in Somalia and Ethiopia, dated 18.02.98 - Update 98/03 on ICRC activities in Afghanistan, dated 23.2.98
During the weekend of 28 February - 1 March 1998, for all information please call the press officer on duty, Doris Pfister, on (mobile) 41 79 202 36 70