wfn.org | CWS Prepares $1.5 Million in Shelter for Afghan Refugees

[Carol Fouke <carolf@ncccusa.org>]

National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A.
Contact: NCC News, 212-870-2227; news@ncccusa.org; www.ncccusa.org
NCC10/1/01 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CWS PREPARES $1.5 MILLION IN SHELTER FOR AFGHAN REFUGEES,
REPORTS "VERY SERIOUS HUMANITARIAN CRISIS" DEVELOPING

Updated October 1, 2001, NEW YORK CITY - Church World Service is preparing
to shelter tens of thousands of Afghan refugees fleeing cities or trying to
enter Pakistan to escape an expected military action from the United States
in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington.
The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees has reported 25,000 new arrivals in
Pakistan since September 11.

It is estimated that about half of the population of Kabul (the capital of
Afghanistan) Kandahar and Jalalabad have already fled.

Prior to this crisis there were already one million internally displaced
persons in Afghanistan. Since September 2000, an estimated 180,000 new
refugees have fled into Pakistan. The cause: war-related internal
displacement and a three-year drought, and the United Nations had already
declared the situation in Afghanistan as the worse humanitarian crisis in
the world. Drought has affected at least 12 million Afghans.

Now the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHRC) estimates that
an additional 1 to 2 million new refugees will attempt to cross into
Pakistan and those who cannot will become internally displaced persons.

"A very serious humanitarian crisis is in the making," said CWS
Pakistan-Afghanistan Director Marvin Parvez, who has recently been meeting
with partners in Kabul, Afghanistan, and Peshawar, Islamabad and Lahore,
Pakistan.

Church World Service offices in Pakistan and partner programs in Afghanistan
remain open with over 300 staff and volunteers. CWS, with headquarters in
New York City, is the global humanitarian service and witness ministry of
the (U.S.) National Council of Churches and its 36 Protestant and Orthodox
member denominations.

Even before the current situation, The World Food Program has stopped
supplying food to Afghanistan due to the severe deteriorating security
situation and the lack of transportation. WFP only has in its warehouses in
Afghanistan food supplies for 3-5 weeks; according to a BBC report, an
average Afghan family only has food rations for 2-4 days. This stoppage,
shortage and soaring prices of food may also accelerate the uprooting and
displacement of more Afghans towards Pakistan.

The emerging security risks and exodus of international staff have decreased
the capacity of many organizations to respond. Many aid workers are now
worried about the lack of non-governmental organizations able to assist in
the present crisis.

After consultations with staff, partners and fellow members of the Action by
Churches Together (ACT) International network, CWS plans to respond to the
situation for new arrivals in Pakistan with a large shelter assistance
program, Parvez reports.

CWS plans to provide shelter kits to 15,000 families (comprising some
105,000 persons) who are new arrivals in the border cities of Quetta and
Peshawar, Pakistan, and internally displaced persons arriving at settlements
in central and northern Afghanistan. While new arrivals are mainly from the
urban centers of Kandhar, Kabul and Jalalabad, a second wave of refugees is
expected to come from rural areas, who are fast running out of food stocks.

Staff and local partners will implement the program. Coordination will be
done with fellow ACT members, local partners and a United Nations emergency
task force. ACT members plan to share information and avoid duplication.

The shelter kits, estimated to cost $90 each, include a family tent, one
ground sheet, one plastic sheet and four blankets. Total cost for direct
assistance, transport and storage and support costs: $1.552 million.

An account has been established to accept financial donations to respond to
this emergency. Pakistan/Afghanistan Emergency, Account #6930, CHURCH WORLD
SERVICE, P.O. Box 968, Elkhart, IN, 46515. On-line contributions to:
www.churchworldservice.org <http://www.churchworldservice.org/> . Or phone
800-297-1516 for information/credit card donations.

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