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Central Asia Region- Complex Emergency
Fact Sheet #43 (FY 2002) January 14, 2002 U.S. AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT BUREAU FOR DEMOCRACY, CONFLICT, AND HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE (DCHA) OFFICE OF U.S. FOREIGN DISASTER ASSISTANCE (OFDA) CENTRAL ASIA TASK FORCE Fact Sheet #43, Fiscal Year (FY 2002), January 14, 2002
Note: This Fact Sheet updates previously released Central Asia Region Fact Sheets and Situation Reports. Numbers Affected
The UN World Food Program (WFP) reported on January 11 that the increased dispatches during December positioned adequate food aid inside Afghanistan to meet the three-month requirements in areas inaccessible during the winter. Stocks at the regional WFP hubs are increasing and in-country stocks are satisfactory. Non-cereal items (mostly beans and cooking oil) are arriving at all hubs for onward dispatch to meet requirements for complementary (non-cereal) foods. In January, WFP expects to move approximately 147,000 metric tons (MT) of food of all commodity types into Afghanistan. In Hirat, WFP (in conjunction with implementing partner World Vision International) is continuing its citywide food distribution, reaching an average of between 32,000 and 39,000 people per day. To date, the distribution has proceeded without incident. As of January 13, WFP had distributed approximately 1,100 MT of food. The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) reports that 600,000 doses of measles vaccine and syringes were delivered recently to northern Afghanistan, and the measles immunization campaign is ready to begin in Kunduz and Takhar. Training of vaccination teams took place last week. The World Health Organization (WHO) reported last week an average of 40 to 60 deaths per week in Maslakh camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs) south of Hirat. WHO cited figures from a typical week, from December 29 - January 4, in which a total of 42 people died in the camp. The principal causes of death were acute respiratory diseases. To maintain more accurate figures on the number of deaths at the camp, WHO has hired monitors. On January 14, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) began loading 1,500 MT of seed in Lahore for its emergency wheat seed distribution project targeting the northwest of Afghanistan. FAO will transport the seed to three implementing partners, Save the Children/US, ACTED, and Cooperation for Humanitarian Assistance (CHA). Security Kabul remains relatively calm. The Afghanistan Defense Ministry reported on January 14 that it would keep 1,500 troops positioned in the capital. These troops will be confined to bases around the city and not allowed to patrol the streets with their weapons. The troops will reportedly remain due to the lack of police officers and the growing concern over rising crime in Kabul. Despite insecurity in Kandahar, WFP today sent an international staff member to Kandahar for the first time since last September. The road from Kandahar to Hirat remains insecure, although humanitarian transports are managing to travel the route. According to the UN Regional Security Officer, the road from Mazar-e-Sharif to Hirat is secure for travel. Population Movements The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reports that over the January 12-13 weekend, the number of Afghans massed at the Chaman border post rose sharply from 7,500 to 13,000. According to UNHCR, the refugees are in urgent need of assistance, including medical assistance and adequate shelter to cope with sub-zero temperatures at night. To avert a humanitarian disaster, UNHCR is urging the Pakistani authorities to allow UNHCR to move vulnerable people to refugee camps where they can be better assisted. UNHCR continues to provide high protein biscuits, dates, water, and blankets to this population. According to USAID/OFDA implementing partner Mercy Corps International (MCI), the livestock die-out in the southern region has apparently worsened over the past three months. Many families were, however, unable to move until now to seek assistance due to the ongoing conflict. Many of these families are now in the Spin Boldak/Chaman area, the only substantial point for the delivery of aid in the region. This is a principal reason for the recent flow of IDPs to Chaman and Killi Faizo. Both in North West Frontier Province (NWFP) and Balochistan Province in Pakistan, UNHCR is continuing to transfer Afghan refugees to new camps. In the last three days, UNHCR relocated more than 3,000 refugees from Jalozai to the new Shalman and Kotkai camps in the tribal areas. Today, UNHCR moved 394 Uzbeks to the new Latifabad refugee camp. UNHCR will resume the recently suspended relocation of Afghan refugees to Old Bagzai refugee camp in Kurram agency following a recent security assessment to the area. Since mid-November, UNHCR has moved more than 118,000 Afghans to new refugee camps in NWFP and Balochistan. There was a four-day rain in Afghanistan last week, the first such downpour in three years. However, as reported by UNHCR, by January 12, many of the tents and mud huts in displaced persons camps in the Hirat area flooded or collapsed under the heavy rain. At least one death has been reported due to a collapsing roof in Shaidaye camp, 20 kilometers east of Hirat. On January 12, aid agencies in Hirat rushed to provide additional shelter items for the IDP camps. UNHCR immediately provided additional tents, blankets, plastic sheeting, and shovels for IDPs in the Hirat area. There are an estimated 300,000 IDPs in six camps in and around Hirat. The majority are farmers from Ghor and Badghis provinces, who fled their homes due to severe drought. Many expressed the wish to return home following the recent rain. UNHCR has begun planning with other agencies to assist the eventual return of these drought-affected people in western Afghanistan, who will require extensive support to rebuild their home communities. UNHCR is also preparing for the voluntary repatriation and resettlement of an anticipated one million Afghan refugees from Iran and Pakistan in the spring, contingent upon security continuing to improve. Logistics Today, the Salang Tunnel opened to limited truck traffic. USAID/OFDA implementing partner ACTED has been working in collaboration with the Ministry of Public Works, Halo Trust, and Russian EMERCOM on efforts to clear debris from the tunnel. Traffic will remain limited on the 2.6-kilometer long tunnel. Even this limited reopening will speed the flow of commercial and humanitarian goods from Peshawar to northern Afghanistan. WFP reports that delivery times for its shipments will be cut by three to four hours. WFP plans to deploy helicopters to provide rapid assessment capability for remote areas and to respond quickly to acute food needs with small amounts of emergency supplies. It will immediately deploy two helicopters to Balkh Province to help in efforts to provide assistance to malnourished populations in remote locations identified last week in Zarah District. Four more helicopters will be based in Chaghcharan and Bamiyan to cover the Central Highlands. WFP field monitors are already on the ground in Zarah District. WFP is currently moving 392 MT of food (including 12 MT of high-energy biscuits) into the district. WFP plans to use trucks and donkeys to get needed food to remote villages. In addition, WFP intends to conduct assessments of populations living higher up the mountain who have not yet been surveyed. According to media reports on January 14, a convoy of relief aid heading for Afghanistan has become trapped in the snows in the mountains of Tajikistan. The 23-truck convoy carrying more than 100 MT of flour for WFP is blocked because of avalanches near Ishkashim, around 40 kilometers from the Afghan border. Rescue teams have arrived on the spot and are working to clear the way for the convoy organized by the Russian, Tajik, and Kyrgyz emergencies ministries. U.S. Government Activities
On January 11 and 12, USAID/OFDA airlifted 1,000 winterized tents, donated by the American Red Cross, to Turkmenabad, Turkmenistan (at a transportation cost of $167,000). The tents were consigned to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), who is transporting them by truck into Afghanistan. The tents will provide emergency shelter for IDPs in Mazar-e-Sharif. Disaster Declarations & Background On October 4, 2001, Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs Christina B. Rocca redeclared a complex humanitarian disaster for Afghanistan for FY 2002. On October 10, 2001, U.S. Chargé d'Affaires James A. Boughner
declared a disaster for Tajikistan due to drought. FY 2002 USG Assistance to Afghanistan Amounts
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