Attachments
Date of event 2024-04-26
What happened, where and when?
Persistent rains have been affecting Afghanistan for a protracted period resulting in flooding and widespread damages across 24 provinces. Intense rainfall activity commenced during the week of 16 April 2024 culminating on the 26 April 2024 and was potentially associated with the event that impacted neighbouring Pakistan, India and as far as Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, which experienced its heaviest rainfall since records began. The rains followed an uncharacteristically late winter and cold wave which affected more than 24 provinces, significantly impacting lives and livelihoods – particularly the agriculture and livestock sectors. The ongoing severe weather event is anticipated to continue as the spring season advances and is expected to exacerbate the existing humanitarian situation.
Assessments conducted by the Afghan Red Crescent Society (ARCS) and other agencies have been shedding light on the share toll of the devastation, with destruction and damages to houses, roads, bridges, places of worship, schools, dams, irrigation facilities, acres of agricultural land, electricity networks and commercial entities such as shops and hotels.
The ARCS, in response to the devastation has been going on the ground supporting search and rescue activities, distribution of non-food items and continues to conduct assessments in the affected provinces. Additionally, owing to the devastation wrought by continuous heavy rains, the National Society convened an emergency taskforce meeting with its partners to include the IFRC to share the most recent updates on the situation and to discuss its response options with the support of its in-country partners. The greatest needs are for cash, shelter, food, and household items as well as feed/ fodder for animals.
It is anticipated that there will be a huge need for urgent humanitarian assistance as the coping capacities of households are already stretched, as they face a compounding reality at a time when their recovery from previous events has been disrupted. The situation is made more disastrous due to the impact on the agricultural sector and resulting implications for national food security—a situation that is already challenging, and with more rain in the forecast, more devastation to this sector is to be anticipated.