Millions of Afghans face hunger, malnutrition and disease

Drought wipes out 80 percent of wheat crops in large parts of Afghanistan

About 3 million Afghans are facing hunger, malnutrition and disease after a severe drought wiped out 80 percent of their crops, leaving them without food stock during the extreme winter that dumps more than 4 meters of snow, blocking roads and leaving thousands  of villages inaccessible from November to March, aid agencies warned.

Disaster Calendar 2011 – November 18

[November 18, 2011]  Mass die-offs resulting from human impact and the planetary response to the anthropogenic assault could occur by early 2016.  SYMBOLIC COUNTDOWN: 1,580 Days Left to the ‘Worst Day’ in Human History

• Afghanistan. A severe drought has wiped out 80 percent of wheat crops in western, northern and northeastern Afghanistan, leaving about 3 million people without food stock, and unprepared for the extreme winter.
• “Time is running out to be able to provide communities with the help they most desperately need before a harsh winter makes many areas inaccessible.” Oxfam’s country director for Afghanistan said.
• “Snow is already falling and many mountainous areas are likely to be cut off within weeks.
• “Villagers who are used to hardship are telling us that this year the drought has destroyed everything. Their food stocks are already low and they are worried about how they will get through the coming months.”
• “Families are facing being cut off for winter without enough food and clean water,” said Save the Children’s Afghanistan country director.
• “We know children are going hungry, and with malnutrition levels already high in Afghanistan, unless aid efforts are ramped up, children could die because they do not get enough to eat.”

Other Global Disasters

• United States. More than 46.2 million Americans lived below poverty line in 2010, compared with 43.6 million in 2009 and 39.8 million in 2008.
• According to the 2010 Census survey, 32.3 percent of children (under the age of 15?) across the country were poor, compared to 30.8 percent in 2009.
• About 1 in 3 US children live in poverty.
• Between 2009 and 2010, the poverty rate increased for children under age 18 (from 20.7 percent to 22.0 percent) and people aged 18 to 64 (from 12.9 percent to 13.7 percent), but was not statistically different for people aged 65 and older (9.0 percent).
• In 2010, both the number and percentage of children in poverty rose in 27 states, with Utah reporting the highest rate increase of 11.7 percent.
• Mississippi reported  the highest percentage of child poverty across the nation, with Washington, D.C., and New Mexico following closely.
• National poverty rate climbed for a fourth consecutive year to (15.1?) 15.3 percent in 2010.
• The number of poor Americans in 2010 rose to its highest level since 1958 when the Census Bureau began publishing poverty estimates.
• “The number of people living in poverty has reached an all-time high in the United States, despite the country’s position as one of the wealthiest in the world. Its gross domestic product per capita of $47,184 was 3,095 percent more than India’s $1,477 in 2010.” The report said.
• The national poverty rate currently stands at 15.3 percent with the unemployment rate persisting at 9 percent.
• Detroit and San Bernardino are the 1st and 2nd poorest large cities in US, with 37.6 percent and 34.6 percent of people living in poverty respectively.
• Cleveland, Ohio, Rochester, N.Y., and  Miami, Fla., are the 3rd, 4th and 5th most impoverished large cities in the county, according to the Census Bureau.
• “America’s wealth flows to a select few. It is no wonder the Occupy Wall Street movement keeps growing in protest over the expanding wealth disparity and malignant joblessness. The American Human Development Index reported that ‘by the end of the 2007-2009 recession, unemployment among the bottom 10th of U.S. households — those with incomes below $12,500 — was 31 percent, a rate higher than unemployment in the worst year of the Great Depression.’” Said a report.
• “But for households with incomes of $150,000 and more, unemployment was just above 3 percent, which is considered full employment. In the last 25 years, the richest American households doubled their wealth from $9.2 million to $18.5 million in 2007 while two in five households lost ground, falling from $5,600 to $2,200, the index reported.”
• The child poverty rate increased by 6 percent between 2009 and 2010 and by 36 percent
  since 2000.

Related Links

• 46 million Americans living below poverty line

• The First Wave of World’s Collapsing Cities  (EDRO Forecast)
• 2011 Much More Disastrous: FIRE-EARTH Forecast
• Global Disasters in 2011 Could Impact 1/3 to 1/2 of the Human Population  (FIRE-EARTH Forecast)
• Back to the Primordial Future
• Mass Die-offs  (FIRE-EARTH Forecast)

• 2011 Disaster Calendar – November
• 2011 Disaster Calendar – October
• 2011 Disaster Calendar – September
• 2011 Disaster Calendar – August
• 2010 Disaster Calendar 
• 2011 Disaster Calendar