The United Nations Food Programme (WFP) said on Saturday that at least 300 people have died due to severe flooding in Baghlan province in northern Afghanistan, a natural disaster that is also spreading to other provinces in the country.
According to an EFE report, the WFP explained that “flash floods are ravaging Afghanistan, killing more than 300 people in Baghlan and destroying more than 1,000 houses.” The natural disaster is due to “unusually” heavy rains in recent weeks and they said they are distributing food to survivors.
The Taliban interim government has lowered the death toll to 153 in several provinces.
“The number of victims is high, although, so far and based on initial information, 153 people have died and hundreds have been injured, although the death toll might rise,” Afghan Interior Ministry spokesman Abdul Mateen Qani told EFE.
According to data provided by the Taliban, 131 people were killed in Baghlan, 21 in neighbouring Takhar and two others in Badakhshan.
The Afghan Ministry of Disaster Management also said that the provinces of Samangan, Faryab, Herat and Ghor were also affected, although it did not reveal the number of deaths.
“Unfortunately, hundreds of our fellow citizens have succumbed to these calamitous floods, while a considerable number have suffered injuries. We have ordered the relevant authorities to mobilise all available resources to carry out rescue operations,” the fundamentalists’ main spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid, said in a statement.
In recent weeks, Afghanistan has suffered from heavy rains and flash floods. However, according to a report by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the Asian country is one of the most vulnerable in the world to climate change and the least prepared to adapt.
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2024-07-07 23:54:31
