DEATH TOLL FROM AFGHANISTAN FLOODING REACHES 150

Kabul, 10 Sya’ban 1435/8 June 2014 (MINA) – The death toll from flash floods in Afghanistan’s northern province of Baghlan has reportedly reached 150, with hundreds more still unaccounted for.

According to reports, bodies of women and children were among the victims recovered from the flood-stricken areas in Baghlan’s remote mountainous district of Gozar Gahe Noor, while hundreds of others are still missing, Press TV quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

On Friday evening, torrential rains started in Baghlan and continued overnight, unleashing massive floods that washed away hundreds of houses and forced thousands of people to flee the Gozar Gahe Noor district.

“People have lost everything they had houses, property, villages, agricultural fields, cattle,” said Baghlan police spokesman Jawed Basharat, adding, “There’s nothing left for them to survive.”

Sultan Mohammad Ebadi, Baghlan’s governor, also described the extent of the disaster as “massive,” warning that the death toll was expected to rise further.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has ordered urgent assistance to the families affected by the disaster.

Disaster management officials in the country have also said that they are working to get food and medical aid to the people in the flood-hit areas in Baghlan, which has been hit by a series of floods in recent weeks.

Flooding and landslides often occur during the spring rainy season in northern Afghanistan. Many homes in rural areas of the country are built of mud or stones and are easily washed away by flooding.

Afghanistan is highly vulnerable to various kinds of natural disasters, affecting the lives of thousands of people every year.

In May, a landslide caused by heavy rains buried a village and killed nearly 300 people in northern Badakhshan Province. (T/P012/E01)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)