World Food Programme Fighting Hunger Worldwide

Since January, WFP has received reports of some 76,000 people being affected by heavy rains and floods in 20 of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces. Verifications and assessments are ongoing. More than 60% of these people in 13 provinces have already received food assistance.

The province of Saripul has been especially hard-hit. Prolonged heavy rain-fall in the highlands caused flash floods in the town of Saripul.

When water levels rose suddenly in the town of Saripul, people took refuge on rooftops. WFP has distributed food to some 6,300 people in Saripul province.

Saripul is already an area where 20-40% of the population is considered to be food insecure, so shocks like floods put an extra strain on the community.

Other humanitarian groups and government bodies are also assessing the situation in order to help the population get through this crisis.

WFP has been distributing biscuits fortified with micronutrients, “High-Energy Biscuits”, which are practical for people who have lost their cooking facilities.

WFP is also distributing the peanut-based ready-to-eat supplementary food Plumpy’Doz for children who may be at risk of sliding into malnutrition due to the flood.

WFP is planning further food distributions for some 10,000 people in Saripul, Jawzjan and Ghazni in May. WFP has received requests to support up to 15,000 more people affected by floods, and WFP staff is on the ground to assess the situation and verify numbers.