Afghanistan Drought Will Become Disaster Without Aid, Oxfam Says

By Jack Phillips
September 20, 2011

Parts of Afghanistan are facing severe food shortages due to drought in several provinces, the aid organization Oxfam said Tuesday, calling on governments and aid donors to help remedy the situation before it becomes a disaster.

Nearly three million people in 14 of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces are affected by the drought, the international umbrella aid agency said. The provinces affected are in the north, west, and north-east parts of the country; nearly three quarters of affected people say they will run out of food in under two months.

Pastures in the regions have been destroyed due to the drought, and overall 80 percent of non-irrigated wheat crops in those places have been lost.

“Delays will just make things harder for families already struggling to cope. The drought has completely destroyed the wheat crop in some areas,” Asuntha Charles, head of Oxfam in Afghanistan, said in a statement.

With the drought and famine persisting in Somalia, Charles said that donors need to act quickly on Afghanistan to mitigate the loss of life.

The aid group said a lack of water in drought-affected areas is forcing people to share water sources with animals, which increases the risk of waterborne diseases.

During the winter, the situation in Afghanistan will likely become worse as many of those places are cut off due to poor weather conditions.

“There have been reports of people trekking nine hours to get clean water and going into debt to ensure their children have food,” said Charles, adding that such “warning signs” should be paid attention to by donors.

Source: The Epoch Times.
Link: http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/world/afghanistan-drought-will-become-disaster-without-aid-oxfam-says-61832.html.