ReliefWeb

Highlights

• Some 120,000 people have newly displaced from rural areas of Badghis to Qala-e-Naw during the reporting period.

• The number of people displaced due to the drought is currently more than 250,000 in the Western Region.

• Assistance is being provided in the displacement sites in Badghis and Hirat provinces and efforts are ongoing to scale up assistance in rural areas of origin.

• Around 190,000 people have been reached with safe drinking water in areas of origin and of displacement in Hirat and Badghis provinces.

• Capacity of partners in Badghis province remains significantly insufficient across all sectors of aid.

• Since the beginning of the integrated drought response in August, more than 690,000 people have been reached with life-saving assistance.

2.2m People estimated in May to be affected by the drought.

1.4m People prioritised for assistance to October.

120,000 People displaced by the drought during the reporting period.

39,000 People receiving food assistance during the reporting period in five provinces.

190,000 People receiving safe drinking water during the reporting period.

Situation Overview

An estimated 253,600 people are currently displaced from drought affected areas across the Western Region. In the past two weeks the total reached around 275,000 people, before some 28,000 individuals returned to their villages in Muqur district of Badghis from the displacement sites in Qala-e-Naw city upon assurances of food distributions in their home villages. Efforts are ongoing to scale up assistance in areas of origin, particularly food assistance from both WFP and government wheat reserves. Timely pre-positioning and distribution is critical, as physical access will become difficult with the onset of rain and snow.

In parallel, efforts are ongoing to meet needs at displacement sites. Existing response capacity at more than a dozen sites in Qala-e-Naw and its surroundings is limited: around 42,000 people have insufficient access to safe drinking water and over 130,000 people have no access to sanitation facilities. There has been no emergency shelter response, leaving people in makeshift shelters. Five mobile health teams in operation are unable to deliver services at the required scale.

While some displaced families are expected to return voluntarily to areas of origin ahead of the planting season in October-November, those that remain at the displacement sites will require integrated assistance, including support to survive the harsh winter conditions.

Some 690,000 people have been reached under the prioritised, integrated response plan that targets 1.4 million people by the end of October.