Flash floods attributable to heavy rains have devastated villages in northern Afghanistan, killing 315 individuals and injuring greater than 1,600, authorities stated on Sunday, as villagers buried their useless and support businesses warned of widening havoc.
1000’s of houses have been broken and livestock worn out, the Taliban-run refugee ministry stated, whereas support teams warned of harm to well being care amenities and very important infrastructure, akin to water provide, with streets left coated in mud.
Within the Nahrin district of Baghlan province, individuals carried their shrouded useless to a gravesite.
“We’ve no meals, no consuming water, no shelter, no blankets, nothing in any respect, floods have destroyed every part,” stated Muhammad Yahqoob, who has misplaced 13 members of his household, kids amongst them.
The survivors have been struggling to manage, he added.
“Out of 42 homes, solely two or three stay, it has destroyed your entire valley.”
In an announcement, the Taliban’s financial system minister, Din Mohammad Hanif, urged the United Nations, humanitarian businesses and personal enterprise to supply assist for these hit by the floods.
“Lives and livelihoods have been washed away,” stated Arshad Malik, the Afghanistan director for Save the Youngsters. “The flash floods tore by way of villages, sweeping away houses and killing livestock.”
He estimated that 310,000 kids lived within the worst-hit districts, including, “Youngsters have misplaced every part.”
The refugee ministry stated Sunday’s newest tally of useless and injured got here from its Baghlan provincial workplace, in keeping with a submit on X. Earlier, the inside ministry had put the toll from Friday’s floods at 153, however warned it might rise.
Afghanistan is vulnerable to pure disasters and the United Nations considers it certainly one of international locations most weak to local weather change.
It has battled a shortfall in support after the Taliban took over as overseas forces withdrew in 2021, since improvement support that shaped the spine of presidency funds was reduce.
That has worsened in subsequent years as overseas governments grapple with competing international crises and rising condemnation of the Taliban’s curbs on Afghan ladies.
