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Afghanistan — more than 1,000 found

I. HIGHLIGHTS/KEY PRIORITIES

  1. According to ANDMA, preliminary information indicate that 2 persons have died and 40 houses destroyed as a result of flash floods that occurred in the afternoon of 25 May in Kariz village of Gosfandi District, Sari Pul Province,

  2. ANDMA has also informed that though there was heavy rainfall in Sari Pul City late in the afternoon, flooding was not reported.

UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs:

To learn more about OCHA's activities, please visit http://unocha.org/.

05/26/2012

Kabul, May 26, 2012 (AFP) - The death toll from flash floods in a northern Afghan province has hit 50 -- most of them women and children -- an official said on Saturday, a week after the disaster struck.

The floods that inundated Sari Pul province were triggered by torrential rain and have left thousands of people homeless, provincial governor Abdul Jabar Haqbeen told AFP.

"The floods have killed 50 people so far, mostly women and children," he said.

Agence France-Presse:

©AFP: The information provided in this product is for personal use only. None of it may be reproduced in any form whatsoever without the express permission of Agence France-Presse.

As French President Hollande promises troop withdrawal this year, and the rest of NATO plans to exit by 2014, Afghanistan's best hope may be the disunity and ill-discipline of the Taliban.

Read the full article in the Christian Science Monitor.

05/25/2012 09:20 GMT

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, May 25, 2012 (AFP) - Bomb blasts in Afghanistan Friday killed three people and wounded nine, officials said, as French President Francois Hollande visited to discuss the early withdrawal of troops.

Two passengers died and three were injured when a bus struck a roadside bomb in southern Helmand province, said Daud Ahmadi, the Helmand government spokesman.

"It was a bomb planted by the enemy," he said, referring to Taliban insurgents trying to bring down President Hamid Karzai's Western-backed government.

Agence France-Presse:

©AFP: The information provided in this product is for personal use only. None of it may be reproduced in any form whatsoever without the express permission of Agence France-Presse.

UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs:

To learn more about OCHA's activities, please visit http://unocha.org/.

May 24 2012 -- The Independent Election Commission (IEC) travelled to Bamyan where it held a consultative meeting on proposed amendments to the Election Law. At the same time, the head of the IEC, Fazl Ahmad Manawi, called on the international community to provide technical and financial support.

The UK is engaged in Afghanistan as part of a 50-nation coalition to prevent international terrorists, including Al Qaeda, from again using Afghanistan as a base from which to operate, threatening our security and that of the region.

The Government has committed itself to keeping Parliament informed about developments in Afghanistan on a monthly basis. This seventeenth report covers progress in April 2012. It reflects the combined assessment of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the Ministry of Defence and the Department for International Development.

Listen to the interview

Despite intensive efforts to stamp out polio in the three endemic countries, experts report that the number of cases in Afghanistan, Nigeria and Pakistan actually doubled over the past year.

For this reason, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) has announced a shift to "emergency mode" to fight this disease which can cause paralysis in its victims, most of whom are children.

The recent floods in Sari Pul Province (Afghanistan) have severely damaged the provincial hospital, which covers around 700,000 people, with 400 hospitalizations /month.

The World Health Organization (WHO) in Afghanistan took a first assessment to measure the impact and damages caused by the floods in the past few days.

24 May 2012 - Civil society organizations throughout the country are holding elections today to select delegates who will attend a special preparatory conference in Kabul where they will create a platform and messages for the upcoming Tokyo Conference where issues of development in Afghanistan will be discussed. Selected delegates will gather in Kabul on May 29 and 30.

El número de nuevos casos es el más bajo de la historia, pero el déficit de financiación amenaza los logros futuros

Ginebra, Suiza, 24 de mayo de 2012 – Pese a la amplia reducción del número de casos de poliomielitis registrados el año pasado, los déficits de financiación e inmunización podrían traer aparejada una continuación de la propagación de la enfermedad, lo que ha impulsado a la Iniciativa de Erradicación Mundial de la Poliomielitis a poner en marcha un Plan de Acción de Emergencia.

Jamais il n’y a eu aussi peu de cas, mais un déficit de financement menace les acquis obtenus

Genève, Suisse, le 24 mai 2012 – En dépit d’une diminution spectaculaire du nombre de cas de polio l’an dernier, le risque que le virus continue à se transmettre à cause d’un déficit de financement et de vaccins a incité l’Initiative mondiale pour l’éradication de la poliomyélite (IMEP) à lancer un Plan d’action d’urgence.

New cases at lowest levels ever, but funding gap threatens progress

Geneva, Switzerland 24 May 2012 – Despite the dramatic drop in polio cases in the last year, the threat of continued transmission due to funding and immunization gaps has driven the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI)to launch an Emergency Action Plan.

  • OUTBREAK - Occurrence of cases of an illness, clearly more than the normal expectancy in a community and limited to a localized place/area (e.g. in a village, town, or closed institution)
UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs:

To learn more about OCHA's activities, please visit http://unocha.org/.

BANGKOK, 24 mai 2012 (IRIN) - Coincé dans une voiture sous des tirs nourris, Mohammed Mohammedi et son collègue de travail s'étaient promis d'informer la famille de l'autre si l'un d'eux s'en sortait vivant.

Integrated Regional Information Networks:

A selection of IRIN reports are posted on ReliefWeb. Find more IRIN news and analysis at http://www.irinnews.org

Une sélection d'articles d'IRIN sont publiés sur ReliefWeb. Trouvez d'autres articles et analyses d'IRIN sur http://www.irinnews.org

This article does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations or its agencies. Refer to the IRIN copyright page for conditions of use.

Cet article ne reflète pas nécessairement les vues des Nations Unies. Voir IRIN droits d'auteur pour les conditions d'utilisation.

On May 22, four Medair relief workers were abducted by a group of armed men during a visit to relief project sites in Badakhshan province, Afghanistan.

"Medair is working closely with the relevant authorities and doing all we can to secure the safe and swift release of our colleagues. We have informed the families and are in close contact with them. Our thoughts are with our colleagues and their families,” says Medair spokesperson, Aurélien Demaurex.

Kabul - Sixteen short films by award-winning Afghan filmmakers depicting the efforts and triumphs of the police force as well as citizens’ expectations and aspirations for law and order in Afghanistan competed in the country’s first ever Police Film Festival, held in Kabul 16-20 May.

The Festival was a joint initiative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Afghanistan Ministry of Interior to show films representing the points of view of children, youth and women. The short films competed in the categories of documentary, animation and fiction. ,

Download PDF (87.69 KB)Introduction to the 2011 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices

Fact Sheet

Office of the Spokesperson

Washington, DC

May 24, 2012

Ali [patient name changed], 14 years old, was playing in the fields with his friends outside Kunduz city in the northern Afghan province of Kunduz.

“We found something that looked like a battery. We picked it up and connected two wires sticking out, and it exploded in our faces.”

Ali’s family drove him to Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)’s newly opened surgical hospital in Kunduz city. He had shrapnel in his face and injuries to his hands and arms.

This report is produced by OCHA Afghanistan in collaboration with humanitarian partners. It covers the period from 17 to 23 May 2012. The next report will be issued on or around 24 May 2012.

I. HIGHLIGHTS/KEY PRIORITIES

  1. According to the PDMC meeting held on 23 May, there is likely to be another flash floods on Saturday 26 May following the weather forecast which indicate heavy rain fall in Sari Pul and the neighbouring highland areas.

UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs:

To learn more about OCHA's activities, please visit http://unocha.org/.