[ Afghanistan ]

Reconstruction should take disaster
prevention into account

As a first step UNAMA has had a National Disaster Management Plan drawn up and the Department for Disaster Preparedness reinforced. Germany contributes a network including the Bonn and Braunschweig universities, the Federal Institute of Earth Sciences and Mineral Resources, the Geo Research Centre Potsdam and the German Aerospace Society, with InWEnt acting as co-ordinator. The trilateral cooperation (the UN, Afghanistan and Germany) will be presented in early 2005 at the World Conference on Disaster Reduction in Kobe (Japan). D+C spoke with Dr. Nadjib Yussufi who is co-ordinating the InWEnt programme on disaster management in Afghanistan.


What is your greatest problem in practice?
Dr. Nadjib Yussufi: In material terms, Kabul is lacking in everything. The Afghans therefore measure our worth on whether we bring any material goods with us. Once when I was introducing the project somebody said to me: “You want to feed my mind, but I’ve got nothing in my stomach”. I can only feed his mind, I can't give him any food. This is a result of how our tasks are allocated. We are offering education, the German Welthungerhilfe [German Agro Action] is supplying food, the GTZ [German Technical Cooperation] is building houses and infrastructure, the Ministry of Defence is trying to guarantee security. Each one of us has its function. So I told him: “Please understand that I can only work with your head. But that doesn't mean that I'm not interested in your stomach or that I don't understand your needs”.

Can the participants of your courses immediately apply their new-found knowledge?
At the moment everybody is busy with reconstruction and nobody is thinking of disasters. But these can occur at any time. That's why our message is that the Afghans should prepare themselves for possible catastrophes at the same time as reconstruction is going on. Also anybody involved in areas which are threatened by earthquakes, floods or drought should pursue a different plan of reconstruction. In Kabul there are a large number of high-rising buildings. Are they really earthquake-proof? We are asking this question now, just as new houses are being built in the north, an area which experienced a serious earthquake two years ago. These are questions oriented towards the future. But now is the time to think about them.

When can Afghanistan expect to have functional facilities of disaster protection?
I think it will take 20 years before a network of disaster protection systems based on Afghan needs comes into existence.

And until then?
I hope that the tasks will be shared between many different organisations. If InWEnt trains the people, then the UN should find somebody else to provide the technical support. One of the universities in Afghanistan should become an earthquake centre and study the interrelationships. We could then use the scientific data in our work, and in the end we would have a fully-qualified team of experts armed with the specialist knowledge needed.

You would also like to attract Afghans back to their homeland with the project. Is that possible?
The need is very great. Many times over the past 20 years Afghanistan has lost its educated population. I personally know of many Afghans who would like to return. But foremost in the minds of many skilled people living abroad today is the question of security. Then rates of pay and the possibility of taking their families with them also have to be considered. Anybody moving from Germany to Afghanistan will have expenses in both countries in the beginning – if the pay is not right then nothing is likely to come of it.

Can you imagine living permanently in Afghanistan again?
I've moved from Germany to Afghanistan with my family three times. Each time coups and war forced us to return here again. But if the basic conditions were right, I would go back at any time.

Dirk Asendorpf asked the questions.