User:Shumaker.elizabeth/sandbox

The 2020 Afghanistan floods led to multiple casualties, long- and short-term health issues, and property damage. (1) Short-term health impacts from the flooding were death and an increase in malaria and cholera from the increase in unsanitary, standing water. (2) The number of casualties/people affected varied depending on the province where the flooding occurred, with political strife, lack of action on climate change, and other social issues affecting the numbers of casualties and missing. (1,3) In April 2020, OCHA (the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) estimated that 17,000 people had been affected by flooding until that point in Afghanistan. (1) As flooding continued well into August of that same year, numbers are most likely greater.

Some of the other short-term impacts from the flooding were housing loss, agricultural land/crop losses, and displacement. (1) With a high quantity of people leaving the flooded areas and staying in neighboring communities until they could return to their homes, COVID-19 transmission was greater in the provinces affected by flooding. (2) Short-term impacts such as housing and crop losses also often transmute into long-term issues, such as an increase in economic instability (and lack of access to proper healthcare), malnutrition, and lack of access to sanitary water sources (affecting the spread of communicable diseases). (4)

Natural (and human-impacted) disasters increase the percentages of premature “Years of Life Lost”, even when death was not the initial short-term impact. (5) In regard to children, they face serious physical and mental health impacts when losing a parent as immediate loss of economic stability, food safety, and shelter generate a multitude of issues. (6) Organizations such as NATO and OCHA have worked to assist with both short- and long-term issues impacting local people from the flooding and various plans have been proposed for disaster risk management in the area to prevent future issues. (7,8)

REFERENCES

1.	ReliefWeb. 2021. Afghanistan: Floods - Mar 2020. [online] Available at:  [Accessed 21 October 2021]. 2.	ReliefWeb. 2020. Deadly malaria and cholera outbreaks grow amongst refugees as COVID pandemic strains health systems, warns IRC - World. [online] Available at:  [Accessed 21 October 2021]. 3.	Pikulicka-Wilczewska, A., 2020. War, drought, diplomatic rifts deepen Afghanistan’s water crisis. [online] Aljazeera.com. Available at:  [Accessed 22 October 2021]. 4.	BMJ, 1999. Long term displacement raises new health needs. 318(7190), pp.1029-1029. 5.	 Ho, J., Frankenberg, E., Sumantri, C. and Thomas, D., 2017. Adult Mortality Five Years after a Natural Disaster. Population and Development Review, 43(3), pp.467-490. 6.	Cas, A., Frankenberg, E., Suriastini, W. and Thomas, D., 2014. The Impact of Parental Death on Child Well-being: Evidence From the Indian Ocean Tsunami. Demography, 51(2), pp.437-457. 7.	 NATO. 2020. NATO and Afghan security forces provide relief to flood victims in Afghanistan. [online] Available at:  [Accessed 23 October 2021]. 8.	ReliefWeb. 2021. Afghanistan Humanitarian Response Plan 2018-2021 (January 2021 revision) – Afghanistan. [online] Available at:  [Accessed 21 October 2021].