29 July 2010 - The Afghan National Army (ANA) airlifted today hundreds of people affected by flooding in eastern Afghanistan as United Nations and aid organizations prepare to deliver life saving aid to a region where many of the streets and bridges are submerged.

"600 people are still waiting in Bila area of Momandara district to be relocated to a safer area by ANA helicopters," said Dr Ismail Aman with the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

UN agencies said they have pre-positioned an assistance package which includes tents and chlorine tablets for distribution once an assessment of the human and physical loss is completed tomorrow.

“We have been asked to wait until the assessment is completed, then the provincial taskforce will decide on that [distribution],” said Dr Atiqullah Noorzad of UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Jalalabad.

The Afghan National Disaster Management Authorities (ANDMA) has taken the lead on distribution of aid, with support from local and international agencies.

“The humanitarian community has sufficient aid resources on the ground to provide assistance to the flood victims,” said Kenneth Baato Rogers of OCHA.

Among the agencies active in the emergency effort, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said it has 3,000 tarpaulins ready to be distributed, while the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is ready to distribute wheat seeds as post disaster package to the affected families.

Meanwhile, ANDMA said that Afghan Red Crescent Society (ARCS) is distributing small amounts of emergency non-food items like tents, blankets, kitchen kits and jerry cans to affected families.

In an emergency meeting today chaired by Nangarhar Deputy Governor Mohammad Alam Ishaqzai, Mohammad Ikbal of ARCS said the scale of damage was so big that the aid agencies are still assessing the situation.

“We didn’t think that there were so many families affected,” Ikbal said.

At least 19 people are confirmed dead in Laghman and Kunar provinces, according to figures from the Afghan National Disaster Management Authorities (ANDMA), with four additional deaths reported in Nangarhar province by the international aid agency Healthnet.

Some flood-affected areas like Dawlatshah and Alishang districts are difficult to reach because of security concerns.

One of the major problems now is that most homes, bridges, culverts and water supply system in the affected areas are destroyed, said Ghulam Ali of ANDMA-Kunar.

Deputy Governor Alam has instructed government bodies working on the disaster response to continue to work tomorrow even though Fridays are non-working days in Afghanistan.

By Tilak Pokharel and Shafiqullah Waak, UNAMA