The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has warned that the devastating floods in the northeastern and northwestern regions of Afghanistan during the past two weeks are likely to intensify in the coming months, resulting in a significant impact on food security.
According to a statement issued by the UN agency, the floods have so far affected over 80,000 people.
WFP also noted that most of the affected districts are “hunger hotspots” and are already facing crisis levels of food insecurity.
The worsening climate crisis has led to erratic weather patterns, which have become the norm across the country, WFP warned.
Unusually high rainfall, which followed a dry winter that left the ground too hard to absorb rain, led to massive floods earlier this month.
This was further compounded by unseasonably warm temperatures that melted mountain snow, swelling rivers that then swept through villages, burying them under mud.
“With one disaster after another hitting these communities, they’re being pushed back into destitution,” said Hsiao-Wei Lee, WFP Afghanistan’s Country Director.
“Recent improvements in food security in Afghanistan now risk being lost,” said Hsiao-Wei adding that “these families need emergency assistance to survive, and in the longer term, they need investments in community infrastructure that help protect their homes, lands and livelihoods.”
WFP has meanwhile been hard at work providing affected people with fortified biscuits and children with nutritional supplements. Working with local bakeries, WFP also distributed bread to communities most hard hit.
By the end of last week, WFP started giving food rations to people in the affected districts, and providing cash assistance where markets were still functional.
But as the climate crisis worsens, the losses from flooding are expected to increase every year, WFP warned.
The floods come after years of drought that impacted most of the country.
WFP is investing in climate adaptation projects designed and built by communities to shield them from the impacts of the climate crisis. These include protective walls, dams and irrigation canals.
During the Baghlan flood almost two weeks ago, a WFP-supported protection wall safeguarded 670 families and 400 acres of agricultural land.
However, for the flood response, WFP needs an additional US$14.5 million to cover emergency food and nutrition assistance and resilience building projects.
