Kabul [ACTED News]
A series of floods and landslides washed away a number of homes in the Provinces of Badakshan and Takhar in the North East of Afghanistan at the end of 2012. ACTED carried out an emergency intervention for the most vulnerable households providing inputs and tools, training and technical supervision to enable them to rebuild their own homes. Some of the communities who lived in very remote valleys at the foot of high mountain passes, a day’s walk from the nearest district centre, used this opportunity to relocate to be near towns.
Their lives are now transformed as they have access to services such as schools and health centers. “I am now located near the district center and we benefit from all the services. I can also send my children to the neighborhood school and benefit from the clinic as well”, says one of the beneficiaries.
Not only have these households been equipped to rebuild their shelter, but they have also been taught how to build shelters using traditional Afghan mud building techniques that are disaster resilient and can withstand floods and earthquakes. Through cash distributions provided by ACTED during this distribution, a number of households have been able to purchase a small plot of land for the first time in their lives.