Afghanistan: Earthquake Appeal No.10/02

THIS APPEAL SEEKS CHF 2,921,000 IN CASH, KIND AND SERVICES TO ASSIST 80,000 BENEFICIARIES FOR 9 MONTHS
The Situation

A strong earthquake, 6.2 on the Richter scale, occurred in Baghlan province in northern Afghanistan's Hindu Kush mountains at 7:30pm local time on 25 March 2002. Aftershocks continued on March 26 and 27 and brought further damage. The epicentre of the earthquakes was south-east of Nahrin in Baghlan province, northern Afghanistan, 160km east of Mazar-i-Sharif. The affected area extends to 12 to 15 km around Nahrin, comprising 40 villages with an estimated affected population of 80,000. The death toll is estimated at 800, and 10,000 people were left homeless. Access to the affected area is difficult because of bad roads, and is hampered by mines laid during several battles over recent years.

Assessments have shown that 25% of buildings have collapsed and another 60% are seriously damaged (either a collapsed roof or wall). The houses are made of mud bricks and are thus vulnerable to tremors. Little rebuilding is taking place, as more aftershocks are expected. However, most families will be able to rebuild their homes on their own during the summer. Meanwhile they are living in the tents provided as part of the relief distributions. It has been recognised that the traditional building materials (mud bricks) are vulnerable to tremors, but earthquake resistant homes do not appear to be feasible in the local context.

This appeal also covers the latest earthquake today (12 April), which measured 5.6 on the Richter scale in Dawabi and Khojakheder villages, Sajjad District, 30km from Nahrin, a mountainous and remote area in the province of Baghlan. Earthquakes are frequent in the Hindu Kush mountain range. In 1998, two earthquakes killed thousands of people and destroyed tens of thousands of houses in Takhar and Badakhshan province. The area has been further affected by drought over the last three years and has been the scene of frequent military confrontations. This has weakened the coping capacity of the population.

The Response so far

The Afghan Red Crescent Society (ARCS) mobile medical teams of Mazar-e-Sharif and Pol-i-khumri, the neighbouring capital of Baghlan province, were deployed immediately to the affected area. They provided emergency medical care to 1,760 people in the first week after the disaster utilising material from a cholera kit and 50 cartons of medical items. While most of the medical teams and field hospitals came and went, to date one ARCS mobile team remains working in the area to follow up on the care for the patients treated during the emergency phase. The activities of the medical teams centred on the treatment of disaster related illnesses, preventive health and education through outreach workers.

ARCS relief teams arrived within 24 hours of the first earthquake. With the support of the International Federation, 17 truckloads of relief goods including tents (2,388), blankets (15,346), plastic sheeting (3,187), jerry cans (3,193) and kitchen sets (2,400) as well as 1,000 sets of clothing, 400 pairs of shoes and 8,000 kg of food items were distributed in the following days to the most affected villages. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) distributed food and non-food items for 3,400 families during the emergency phase. In total, 23 NGOs and UN agencies were present at the disaster site during the week following the earthquake. The distributions of non-food and food items have reached over 14,000 families. 1,200 metric tons of food have been distributed. A total of 12 agencies provided medical services. The emergency water response provided seven water distribution sites.

A Federation Field Assessment and Co-ordination Team (FACT) was deployed to the area to assess the medium term reconstruction and rehabilitation needs in Nahrim and a number of surrounding villages and to co-ordinate relief distributions implemented by ARCS.

The Needs

Virtually all immediate needs were covered by the emergency relief operation within 10 days after the disaster. The needs are now shifting towards establishing a recovery and rehabilitation plan for the area. WHO has initiated a household survey to collect baseline data and their initial findings do not indicate an increased number of cases of malnourished. WFP will continue their general food distributions in the area, as before the disaster. Earthquake related food distributions by the ARCS have concluded. The affected area has sufficient quantities of water coming from the local springs and rivers. Although tremors obstructed some springs, and the population of the affected villages now uses unsafe river water, several humanitarian actors are already involved the rehabilitation of springs and digging of wells.

Health

In the mid term, post emergency phase a number of additional needs still remain to be addressed. The occurrence of respiratory infection pathologies have increased due to people being exposed to the weather while living in temporary shelters. Also to be addressed are: the follow up treatment of earthquake related fractures and other injuries and their rehabilitation; the prevention and treatment of communicable diseases which may increase due to the more difficult living conditions; and post traumatic stress disorders. While ARCS mobile teams are addressing the most pressing needs, additional assistance is needed to complement and strengthen their capacity.

Health facilities have been destroyed and the Ministry of Public Health is already receiving support to rebuild its clinic in Nahrin. However, given that health services were scarce before the emergency, the establishment of a new ARCS fixed clinic is required in the medium to long term.

Rehabilitation

Most schools and health facilities have been destroyed or damaged by the earthquake. Before the quake, there were 12 primary schools in Nahrin district. While UNICEF has focused on restarting the educational activities by providing large tents as temporary facilities, the reconstruction of new earthquake resistant schools is needed.

The Proposed Operation

Objectives and Activities planned

The ARCS, supported by the Federation, aims at contributing to the speedy recovery of basic living standards for the affected population of Nahrin as well as to the overall capacity building of the national society, especially in the areas of disaster preparedness and response.

Health

To improve the health of the earthquake victims a range of health activities will be reinforced. First, the follow up of patients already treated during the emergency phase: Only a small proportion of fractures and dislocations have been referred to Pul-i-Khumri public hospital. Most people with bandages and casts have not been registered by the medical personnel and have returned to their homes. The condition of patients need to be re-examined, casts taken off, etc. Second, treatment will be provided for common illnesses such as respiratory infections and diarrhoea, which have become more prevalent resulting from the population living in temporary shelter and drinking unsafe water. And thirdly, support will be provided to people suffering from the psychological consequences of the earthquake, be it losing family members or being were trapped under rubble.

Rehabilitation

A number of primary schools in Nahrin will be reconstructed or rehabilitated. Most of the 12 primary schools of Nahrim have been destroyed or damaged by the earthquake. The nature of the work needed will depend on the degree of damage and the stability of the remaining structures. A plan of action will include a more indepth assessment of the structures. The new schools will be designed and built to have a higher resistance against future tremors. Additionally, all rehabilitated schools will be provided with furniture, and wells and latrines.

Disaster Preparedness

To improve the capacity of the ARCS to reduce the vulnerability of communities to disasters, it is important to establish a functional ARCS disaster management network linked with the emergency mobile units facilitating disaster co-ordination. Disaster Preparedness stocks needs to be replenished. The project will also contribute to increased Federation capacity to prepare for and respond to disasters in the disaster prone area of the Hindukush region.

Plan of Action

Health

(i) Establish a temporary Emergency First Aid Post with minor surgery capacity in Nahrin while the present health facilities are being rebuilt and upgraded. This temporary facility will: receive and treat any new injuries; follow up on previous emergency treatment cases; and treat other health conditions. This facility will be supported by expatriate personnel (three health professionals for a maximum of three months) who will train local ARCS staff in the use of the equipment and treatment procedures and protocols. To allow rapid deployment, materials of a Basic Health Care ERU will be used for setting up the facility. After the training phase, the medical equipment will be handed over to ARCS. The facility will be integrated in the newly built ARCS clinic, while some of the medical emergency equipment will be used for disaster preparedness stocks and the Emergency Mobile Units being developed in five regions of Afghanistan. The ARCS clinic will be integrated in the current Integrated Primary Health Care programme.

(ii) Strengthen the Pul-i-Khumri ARCS mobile team by providing a vehicle, equipment and training to enlarge implementation of outreach activities in the villages surrounding Nahrin.

(iii) To provide support to trauma victims, training will be provided by an expatriate psychologist to ARCS health educators in counselling beneficiaries and communities. Consultations, supervision and materials will be available to the ARCS health educators in order to expand their skills in recognition of post traumatic stress disorder and to offer psychological support to the survivors of the earthquake. There will also be support of ARCS volunteers and Health Educators in Nahrin district, including training of ARCS and International Federation health officers in PTSD identification and treatment.

Rehabilitation

Using local expertise and an expatriate construction delegate, assess the condition of the school buildings and plan and implement their rehabilitation or reconstruction. Identification and planing of procurement of building materials, contractors and staff will occur in co-ordination with the Ministry of Education. Repair, rehabilitation or reconstruction of 8 (out of 12) schools in and around Nahrin as well as the required water supply, latrine infrastructure and the equipment and furniture should be finalised at the end of December.

Disaster Preparedness, Telecom and replenishment of DP Stocks

(i) Replenish the distributed relief material to the ARCS warehouse and replace part of the warehousing capacity with a rubbhall. As basic telecommunications infrastructure in the country is very poor, a specific telecom network based on HF, VHF and satellite systems will be installed and staff trained in its utilisation and maintenance. There is no working telecommunications systems, except a basic telephone system linking official building.

(ii) Planning and implementation of disaster preparedness training including teaching on newly acquired emergency equipment. The expatriate ERU team who carried out 5 regional health emergency mobile units (EMU) training in February and March will organise this training in the different regions of Afghanistan. The Emergency First Aid facility material will be dismantled and stored as DP equipment to be used in future disasters.

(iii) Special attention will be given to built within ARCS staff and volunteers, capacity in co-ordinating disaster response.

National Society Capacity Building

ARCS carries out a major health programme through a network of 48 clinics providing preventive and curative primary health care. Through a Community-Based First Aid/youth programme (CBFA), it recruits and trains volunteers in the village and town neighbourhoods as well as schools. With the assistance of the organisational development (OD) delegate in Mazar-e-Sharif, the ARCS plans to expand the volunteer network to the communities in the earthquake affected area and train them in both CBFA and disaster preparedness.

Present Capacity of the Federation

The Federation currently has a team of 17 permanent delegates in Afghanistan, including health, relief, and OD experts. There is a health delegate based in each sub-delegation, working closely with Federation and ARCS health officers and clinic and CBFA staff. Presently the relief/DP delegates are based in Kabul and Herat, but travel to any region, as the need arises. The Federation is also planning to expand and update its radio/telecom equipment and capabilities throughout Afghanistan.

Monitoring and Evaluation

A final evaluation will take place on the completion of the intervention. The project administrator for this operation will monitor and report the progress of the achievement of objectives, and on the basis of this monitoring, an evaluation will be conducted. Individual components of the programme will be evaluated in terms of programme impact, relevance, and coherence, bearing in mind complementary activities of other actors in the area and overall programming arrangements.

Co-ordination

The Federation in Afghanistan maintains good relationships with ARCS and ICRC and all participating National Societies (PNS) currently supporting the Afghan programme. Delegates regularly attend coordination meetings, in Kabul and sub-delegations, with Ministry of Public Health and other government bodies, WHO, UNICEF, UN-OCHA and other UN agencies as well as NGOs involved in health and relief activities.

Budget summary

See Annex 1 for details.

For further details please contact: Andree HOULE, Federation Desk Officer, Phone: 41.22.730.4316; Fax: 41 22 733 0395; email: houle @ ifrc. org.

All International Federation Assistance Operations seek to adhere to the Code of Conduct and are committed to the Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards in Disaster Response (SPHERE Project) in delivering assistance to the most vulnerable.

In line with the Minimum Reporting Standards, the first operations update on this appeal will be issued within 30-days of the launch and the second will be issued over the course of the operation; a final narrative and financial report will be issued no later than 90 days after the end of the operation.

This operation seeks to administer to the immediate requirements of the victims of this disaster. Subsequent operations to promote sustainable development or longer-term capacity building will require additional support and these programmes are outlined on the Federation website.

For support to or for further information concerning Federation operations in this or other countries, please access the Federation website at http://www.ifrc.org

Jean Ayoub
Director
Disaster Management Coordination

Didier J. Cherpitel
Secretary General