26 March 2002

U.S. Agencies Responding To Afghan Earthquake

Boucher says they have sufficient supplies due to other relief efforts

State Department Spokesman Richard Boucher, commenting on the tragic earthquake centered in the Nahrin district of Afghanistan, said the United States had "sufficient supplies on hand" to assist in the disaster relief.

Speaking in Washington March 26, Boucher said eight U.S. agencies and U.S. Agency for International Development funded organizations were on the ground and were already responding to the crisis.

"Because we have been doing so much in Afghanistan in terms of food relief and non-food relief, we have sufficient supplies on hand to take care of people in this affected area, although we will need to go back and replenish supplies that are turned over for that use right now," said Boucher.

Boucher said the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan provided an aerial assessment of the damage, and that the U.S. Embassy in Kabul would soon be making the appropriate disaster declarations.

The spokesman said a more detailed damage assessment was underway, which will aid in supplying specific materials needed by the affected population.

"You need to not only feed them tonight and give them blankets and shelter for the evening, but you need to assess what they might need tomorrow and the day after and make sure that you're not just shipping tons of blankets to people who actually need bricks," said Boucher.

Following are excerpts from the March 26 State Department briefing on the situation of Afghanistan:

Mr. Boucher: Okay, Afghanistan. According to the United Nations, there was a series of earthquakes in Afghanistan, the strongest one measuring 6.0 on the Richter scale, on March 25th and early morning March 26th. The epicenter of the earthquake was in Nahrin district, Baghlan province.

According to initial reports, the town of Nahrin has been seriously affected, almost 90 percent of the town destroyed. There was a French NGO in Nahrin, and their office collapsed completely. The Afghan Interim Authority is estimating up to 1,800 dead, with 1,200 bodies counted so far, 4,000 injured, 1,500 homes destroyed, 20,000 people left without shelter. Obviously those are very preliminary numbers, but one can see that it is a serious disaster.

We are anticipating our Embassy will make the appropriate disaster declarations soon. We have aid agencies and USAID-funded organizations, which are on the ground, who are already working in the affected area and responding to the crisis. UNICEF is there, the International Organization for Migration, Doctors Without Borders, this French NGO, ACTED, A-C-T-E-D -- I'm not sure what it stands for -- they all have a strong presence in the affected area, so these organizations are already providing food and non-food items, including tents, clothing and blankets.

There is an aerial assessment that began today at 5:00 p.m. local time, so that's probably over by now. But the International Security Assistance Force is providing the helicopter for that, so they are there. The UN Office of Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance, World Health Organization personnel, including medical and engineering specialists, have gone out to do the aerial assessment to the region, see what else they might need other than supplies that we had on hand.

Because we have been doing so much in Afghanistan in terms of food relief and non-food relief, we have sufficient supplies on hand to take care of people in this affected area, although we will need to go back and replenish supplies that are turned over for that use right now.

The International Security Assistance Force has been very, very helpful, helped with telecommunications and coordination facilities. The UN is looking at transportation needs. But there are some trucks available already from the International Organization of Migration. And need for additional air and land assets is being tallied. So we're in there; there are people already working in this region. We already have some supplies going into the region, and we're doing the assessment for what more is needed.

Question: (Inaudible) which are the American-funded organizations that are helping?

Mr. Boucher: We give some money for all these organizations -- UNICEF, International Organization for Migration, and I think some of the NGOs as well, for their work in these various areas.

.........

Question: Can I go back to Afghanistan?

Mr. Boucher: Sure.

Question: I'm just trying to get my head around exactly what it is the United States is doing with regards to the earthquake. I get the impression that you're saying that there hasn't been a sort of specific request yet about what help is needed.

Mr. Boucher: There hasn't been a specific assessment -- or the specific assessment of what is going to be needed in this area is under way. What I wanted to point out is that the various organizations have supplies in the area and available -- are already being sent to the area. Those supplies and activities are to some extent funded by the United States. We are happy that they're out there; we're happy they have what they need to get on the case and to start taking care of people right away. But, yes, there will be a slightly more detailed assessment that comes out of this aerial assessment and other efforts on the ground to make sure that we, over time, continue to supply what's needed to the people in the area.

Question: I'm wondering why you gave them a sort of PR and victory you could get by taking the initiative and just going right on in there and fixing it as best you can --

Mr. Boucher: We are in there. We are in there helping. We are in there fixing, as you say. But the goal is not PR. The goal is to help people in need, and you need to not only feed them tonight and give them blankets and shelter for the evening, but you need to assess what they might need tomorrow and the day after and make sure that you're not just shipping tons of blankets to people who actually need bricks. So we need to get a good assessment of what's going to be needed there. But clearly we will be moving things in, and we have the ability to take care of the immediate needs from supplies that are on hand.

Question: But there's no question of American forces who are out there getting involved in transport or anything like that?

Mr. Boucher: I don't want to rule it out. I suppose the Pentagon would comment on that. But I would note that the International Security Force is already providing helicopters, logistics support and things like that. So I think they are in a position geographically, particularly, to be a little more helpful.

Question: Secretary Rumsfeld yesterday said that the State Department is going to have an important role to play in persuading governments to contribute to what it will cost to train and create an Afghan national army. And he said it in a way that sounded like this is an operation, or a diplomatic initiative that's very sort of active. Can you say anything about that, as to whether that is in fact ongoing, and whether there's any progress being made, in coaxing money from any of these countries?

Mr. Boucher: I will have to double-check on the specifics of where we stand now. During the Secretary's visit to Afghanistan, one of the subjects was building a national army and a national police, and from that time and the Tokyo Conference, which was devoted to the other needs of reconstruction of Afghanistan, we have talked with other donors, we have talked to other supporters about how to take the lead, how to support the building of a national army and national police in Afghanistan. I think the Germans stepped forward to take on the task of helping with the creation of a national police force. As you know, the US military has offered to help with the military aspects of that.

And what the other needs are and how they are being met I will have to look at. But certainly on an ongoing basis, we are quite aware that this is an expensive proposition, and we will need support from others. I will just have to check on where we are in getting that at this point.

Question: One of the things that Secretary Rumsfeld said was that he mentioned the Tokyo Conference as being disappointing in terms of what countries were willing to commit to this particular issue. Has the State Department noticed yet that -- or come to a conclusion that it's going to be difficult to persuade countries to --

Mr. Boucher: I wouldn't say we have come to that conclusion yet. By its nature, the Tokyo Conference was more prepared on the civilian reconstruction side, because those studies had been done and the World Bank had been out there. The Afghan Interim Authority's own ideas about how to rebuild the military were at an early stage at that point. They hadn't been worked through -- for example, General Franks and CENTCOM were going out right afterwards, I think, to start talking through more specifically some of these things.

So I think just by the timing of it, Tokyo wasn't the place where that kind of assistance was forthcoming, although we were already discussing it with other donors in our meetings there, and there were some donors that were already starting to come forward on the military and police side of things.

Be that as it may, I think since then we have had a lot of discussions with others about who might support this effort. But as I said, I don't have a specific update for you at this moment.

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