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ISLAMABAD,
Pakistan--The number of hungry refugees
expected to flee American raids in Afghanistan
could be "unprecedented" in the
history of organized relief, according
to Red Cross officials here who are preparing
reception centers to help the homeless
weather the winter.
Patrick
Fuller of the International Federation of Red
Cross and Red Crescent Societies told the Earth
Times in an interview that the federation launched
its largest appeal in its history to help the
people who were expected to flee cross the
borders into Pakistan, Iran Turkmenistan, Tajikistan
and Uzbekistan.
In fact the numbers are so great - some 300,000
to 500,000 to be handled by the federation
alone - that the group's logistic experts worked
the estimates backwards.
Asked how he could possibly know in advance
how many people would decide to flee, Fuller
said he didn't.
"That figure is based on our capacity.
That's how many people we can handle," he
said. In other words the maximum.
Fuller,
a veteran in the IFRCRCS, said that the recent
earthquake
in Turkey displaced some
2 million people, but the Afghan situation "has
the potential to be unprecedented," because
the country already has at least 900,000 displaced
persons, and, according to United Nations figures,
some five million people in need of basic assistance
to survive. And the winter is coming.
Andre
Neacu who will head the federation's camps
in Quetta,
near the Afghan border, said, "Afghanistan's
problems didn't start on Sept. 11. But their
problems were pretty much forgotten by the
international community."
"Now everyone recognizes that we will
not be able to solve their long term problems
once we get over this crisis. We will need
more resources," he said.
In the meantime the federation is in a task
force with the International Committee of Red
cross the Pakistani government and the United
Nations to put stock up and put into position
supplies needed t handle the refugees, including
blankets, food, water purifying systems sanitation
systems, wells digging equipment and other
infrastructure need for several small cities
of homeless.
Some 20 future camp sites have been designated
in the Northwest Frontier Provinces and five
more to the south, near the Pakistani border
with Afghanistan.
Fuller
said water was a particular problem because
the
last four years f drought have
left the water table 200 to 300 meters below
the surface. "It will be tremendously
difficult to access that water," he said,
leaving them no option but to use tanker trucks.
Supplies have already begun arriving. A transport
plane from Spain landed last Friday, and Fuller
expects several more flights from Europe and
Asia to add to the federation's own stores
which are being drawn from Abudabi.
Fuller said he was not able to say precisely
how the federation's activities in Afghanistan
are continuing since the foreign staff left
after the Sept. 11, attacks.
There
have been large population movements since
then
and we don't know if our staff have
moved or not," he said.
Fuller
said that the federation is looking for at
least
$22.5 million dollars for the
first six months of assistance, assuming the
crisis lasts that long. Donations can be made
through the federation's web site at www.ifrc.org,
he said. Asked if he had any message for readers,
he said: "Send money."
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