ISLAMABAD, 1 February (IRIN) - At
least 110 displaced Afghans died in the western city of Herat when temperatures
dropped below freezing during the early morning hours of Tuesday, a UN
field officer told IRIN on Wednesday.
"Temperatures dropped to minus
25 degrees resulting in the deaths of at least 110 people," Hans-Christian
Poulsen, UN Regional Coordination Officer for western Afghanistan, confirmed
from Herat. "Sadly, these people were mostly children, the elderly
and the weak."
The deaths point to a deepening humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, where tens of thousands of Afghans have fled war, drought and hunger in their home areas. Over 500,000 Afghans have left their homes since the middle of last year and most are internally displaced within Afghanistan, according to the office of the UN Coordinator, Erick de Mul.
At least 30,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) are now located in and around Herat, and the scale of the problem has sorely tested the ability of relief agencies to cope. Inadequate shelter, blankets and fuel can be assumed to have contributed to the high death rate in the displacement camps in Herat, according to a statement on Wednesday from de Mul's office.
"During December and January, the daily influx of IDPs was almost 100 families - or some 500 people - each day; this is becoming extremely difficult to cope with," Christian Poulsen told IRIN.
The majority of Tuesday's deaths occurred in Maslak IDP camp, 17 km west of Herat, which is one of six in the area. Although Maslak was the only camp in the area not yet filled to capacity, Poulsen described conditions there as "appalling".
"I like to focus on the dignity of people and conditions here fall short of the most basic internationally recognised standards. Even without sub-zero temperatures to deal with, the conditions in Maslak are appalling. There are a limited number of wells and latrines, making conditions unhygienic and particularly poor... the place is undignified and simply unfit for human beings," he added.
According to Poulsen, shelter is the main problem for the displaced in Maslak. Tents usually reserved for a family of six or seven now house three families. There are 5,000 families - at least 30,000 people- living in this situation, he said.
"At the moment, we have 2000 mud-hut shelters which are ready to be handed over once authorisation from Taliban officials is given. [The Taliban Islamic Movement controls most of the territory of Afghanistan.] We also had a delivery of 1,250 tents on Tuesday which will ease the situation considerably, Poulsen said.
"However, we still have a shortage of 1,500 shelters just to address present needs. Given the daily influx of people still coming in, I'm afraid the shelter situation will be back to square one unless proper measures are taken immediately."
Asked what the current requirements were, Poulsen said: "I need everything... What particularly frustrates me is that this is not a recent natural disaster but a situation that has gradually grown worse, despite repeated appeals for more resources."
In view of the rapidly deteriorating situation in Afghanistan and severe shortages of non-food items for the displaced, the UN Coordinator, Erick de Mul, called an emergency meeting of donors to Afghanistan earlier this month. He asked them to respond immediately to the 2001 Appeal for Afghanistan, and specifically to provide US $3.5 million for non-food items including shelter, blankets and clothing; $3.2 million in cash to complement food for work programmes; and $600,000 for seeds.
So far, only $200,000 of the $3.5 million requested for non-food items has been pledged.
[ENDS]
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