I'd like to start by posing some significant figures to show the scope of work that we have to deal with.

There are about 400,000 Afghans who are seriously affected by natural disasters. There are about 275,000 Internally Displaced People in the country who are in constant need of medical care, food, shelter, protection and other assistance.

Afghanistan has experienced three decades of internal conflict which has seriously affected its socio-economical infrastructure, causing wide scale displacement of people both within and outside the country accompanied by widespread poverty. The cumulative impacts of the conflict and its aftermath have deprived many people access to basic facilities like water, electricity and basic health care. Besides the effects of these man-made disasters, the frequent occurrence of natural disasters which in most cases leads to loss of life and damage to infrastructure

Summary

The present report on the Central Emergency Response Fund is submitted pursuant to General Assembly resolution 63/139 of 11 December 2008 and covers activities from 1 July 2008 to 30 June 2009.

In brief

Programme purpose: As outlined in the 2009-10 plan, the aim of the International Federation South Asia regional office is to increase the capacity of the South Asian national societies to provide services that improve the lives of vulnerable people.

Programme(s) summary: The first half of 2009 saw the finalising of some of the disaster risk reduction (DRR) work started in 2008. The community-based disaster risk reduction (CBDRR) training curriculum, including the facilitators' guide, participant's

Humanitarian situation

The protection of health care services and medical personnel during conflict is one of the ICRC's most pressing concerns in Afghanistan. This, and the protection of the civilian population, are among the delegation's main operational priorities. Another is to ensure that all parties to a conflict recognize and accept the ICRC's neutral,

Your gift can help shelter a needy Afghan

Brussels, 6 May 2009 - The European Commission has allocated €35 million in humanitarian aid to assist vulnerable people most affected by armed conflict and natural disasters in Afghanistan. Beneficiaries also include Afghan refugees in Pakistan and Iran. The humanitarian situation in Afghanistan has worsened over the last years due to the progressive deterioration of the security situation as well as several years of drought and other natural disasters such as extreme cold spells.

- Ongoing flooding in North, Northeast, and West

- Earthquake in Nangarhar province

- New ISAF policy on white vehicles

- Potential ethnic conflict in Central Highlands region

- Civilian casualties lowest since January 2008

I. Humanitarian Overview

Access

Access restrictions continue to affect humanitarian operations; in a number of provinces delivery of assistance is limited to local partners or the government. Recorded instances of kidnapping or intimidation of national staff of humanitarian agencies increased in

While many farmers are happy with the spring rains this year which should result in good harvests, many Afghans have suffered heavily from floods caused by the recent heavy rainfall.

Thousand of families have become victims of flooding over the past ten days in the north, north-east and western parts of Afghanistan, while an earthquake in the east of the country killed 22 people, wounded 59 and destroyed 290 houses.

2,013 families in 61 villages have suffered from floods in the western province of Herat alone.

"In the north, damage was particularly