Afghanistan Flood: at least 500,000 people impacted

Flooding caused by unusually heavy rain has caused hundreds of fatalities across Afghanistan since 10 May including at least 55 people in Ghor and 84 people in Faryab provinces. In addition, families have lost livestock and crops, and sustained damage to property, including thousands of shops and homes. It is estimated that over 500,000 people have been impacted and will require assistance because of the floods. While all World Vision Afghanistan staff and their families are safe and accounted for, the homes of 29 colleagues have also been partially or fully destroyed in Ghor. As rain continues to fall in Ghor, Herat, Badghis and Faryab, these floods are likely to have long term impacts on children and their families in World Vision Afghanistan’s operational areas and beyond.

Afghanistan is one of the most vulnerable countries in the world to the impacts of climate change and much of its landscape is characterised by a lack of greenery and denuded soil. Exacerbated by years of drought, this makes many areas especially vulnerable to flooding. This unseasonal torrential rain is one more shock to impact communities which have been affected by a combination of sustained drought, economic crises, earthquakes, and the legacy of four decades of conflict, and where the official estimate of those in need of humanitarian assistance nationwide this year is 23.7 million, 54% of the population, prior this latest crisis. Around 15.8 million Afghans are food insecure, with 44.7% of children experiencing stunting.

The most urgent needs are for clean drinking water, shelter for those whose homes have been destroyed or are at risk from rising floods, food assistance, protection for children and vulnerable adults, hygiene kits and accessible healthcare – including mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS). In the longer term, infrastructure rehabilitation, agricultural restocking, and resilience to climate change-related shocks will be of the utmost importance.

So far, World Vision has distributed multi-purpose cash assistance (MPCA), and pre-positioned tents, non-food items (NFIs), emergency hygiene and dignity kits and clean water kits. In recent days a WVA static health facility was evacuated to ensure the safety of staff and patients. In Koshk-e-Khona district WVA’s health team is providing services out of small tents on higher ground after the health centre flooded.

Please pray:

That flood waters would recede allowing the clean-up operation and humanitarian relief to be implemented unimpeded.
The safety and protection of staff and their families who have lost some or all their belongings to the floods and their recovery as they pick up the pieces of their lives.
For the protection of the most vulnerable Afghans, including children in the areas in which World Vision Afghanistan works, and of our staff, partners and peers.
That donors would be moved to respond to the immediate crisis and the underlying climate change catastrophe which is being expressed ever more frequently in such shocks. This means generous funding and long-term thinking, combining adherence to humanitarian principles with pragmatic engagement with the authorities.