Many flood-affected families have lost it all in the disaster that struck notably the valley of Swat. ACTED has been working on providing emergency food to those most in need, without any access to food items or who have lost all their livelihoods and therefore cannot afford to buy anything.

In Bahrain, in the heart of the valley of Swat, north of Mingora, the main distribution point is located in Fatehpur. This location was chosen because it is one of the few areas accessible by road from the south, thanks to which food rations can be transported by truck from Peshawar to be distributed to all of the populations leaving in the neighboring areas of Balakot, Mankyal and Bahrain. The World Food Programme has a warehouse on location and ACTED is charge of organizing the food distributions. For the most isolated communities, food drops have been organized by helicopter, allowing the most desperate families to have at last something to eat. But those heavy logistical operations remain scarce and most of the food distributions take place in Fatehpur where all convey to get some long awaited food.

The distribution center of Fatehpur

On location, the ACTED staff composed of 20 persons is in charge of welcoming the beneficiaries as well as to manage the actual food distributions.

During the first week of August, ACTED staff went in the field to visit the most remote communities of Balakot, Mankyal and Bahrain, to assess the food needs of the isolated and flood-affected populations. The beneficiaries are selected according to criteria such as the state of destruction or of partial destruction of housing, in order to identify those who are left without a proper shelter, the level of isolation as well as the identification of host households supporting members of their families or other displaced people. Indeed, while international relief is reaching the flood-affected communities, traditional mechanical solidarity systems have provided for the most vulnerable. Those with some food left cook and share what they have with the women, children and men with no access to food. The persons that correspond to these vulnerability criteria are given a coupon which they can redeem against food rations in Fatepuhr. In all, over 8,000 food coupons have been handed over by ACTED teams, further than what was fist expected.

Banners have been displayed in order to best identify the distribution point. People come from everywhere and queue in front of the building. Each beneficiary and coupon is checked in order to make sure that those who have been identified previously as the most in need are indeed provided emergency food rations. Everyone signs the register, most of them with the print of their thumb, before going to the distribution point where they are given 80 kilogrammes of flour, 3.6 kilogrammes of oil and 2.1 kilogrammes of energetic biscuits, corresponding to the food needs for one month of a 7 person family.

Food aid for 50,000 people

In addition to this food aid, 200 rupees are given to each recipient to cover their traveling expenses and to allow some of them to share a taxi to bring back their heavy load or to accommodate themselves before going back home. Indeed, most access roads have been completely washed away and many can’t allow cars. Some are just simply cut off. Most beneficiaries are therefore going through 12 hour walks, between 30 and 35 kilometers, to reach the distribution point, while doing the Ramadan. When they get to Fatehpur, they go to the distribution point before settling for the night in a hotel, with relatives, in the local mosques or outside before going back home on the next day. Some of them will travel twice to Fatehpur in order to bring back to their relatives the food…

The food distributions started on August 11th and after 12 days, some 50,000 people received emergency food aid. Further distributions are foreseen in September. All the more that additional displacements are expected to take place after the Ramandan; these displacements being postponed for the time being as most women and children cannot travel during feast. After Ramadan, many families will leave their isolated areas to join populated areas where they will access more easily the means to recover after the disaster they have gone through.

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