Severe flooding in Afghanistan escalates humanitarian needs.
Since 16 April Afghanistan has been experiencing unusually heavy seasonal rains. New waves of flash flooding and subsequent mudslides have swept across multiple provinces in the northeast region of Afghanistan, killing hundreds and destroying thousands of homes, livestock and agricultural land. Thousands of displaced people have no homes to return to after their houses were swept away. With your help we can continue to provide much-needed lifesaving assistance.
This situation also happens in the backdrop of the ongoing crises across Afghanistan following the compounding impacts of multiple shocks including severe drought, multiple instances of flooding and earthquakes, as well as public health emergencies, and economic hardship. An estimated 4 million people are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance with the recent and ongoing floods coming at a time when the coping capacities of households are already stretched by these compounding factors.
Credit: Recent distribution of relief items to flood affected households
Red Cross Red Crescent Response
Volunteers of the Afghan Red Crescent Society (ARCS) were among the first responders on the scene along with staff and branch disaster response teams they have been on the front lines supporting search and rescue efforts as well as providing emergency assistance to the affected population.
Credit: ARCS
The ARCS is scaling up its effort to ensure cooked meals and temporary shelter for those displaced, emergency health services, and other forms of assistance. This latest disaster is happening within the context of what is already one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, where communities are already barely able to cope.
“The level of suffering in Afghanistan is already beyond words. Our emergency response will focus on life-saving essential needs” – Necephor Mghendi, Head of the IFRC Country Delegation.
Credit: ARCS Delivering Aid
In coordination with the ARCS and other partners of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, multi-sector teams have been dispatched to the hardest-hit areas for relief aid, focused on delivering emergency health services including treating the injured, distributing food and non-food items such as hot meals, blankets, water storage containers, kitchen sets and establishing temporary shelters.
ARCS vehicles are also supporting the transfer of human remains, with the national society social mobilizers providing psychosocial first aid.
International support is urgently needed.