Afghanistan floods devastate villages, killing 315
Sign up now: Get insights on Asia's fast-moving developments
Follow topic:
KABUL – Flash floods caused by heavy rain have devastated villages in northern Afghanistan, killing 315 people and injuring more than 1,600, the authorities said on May 12, as villagers buried their dead and aid agencies warned of widening havoc.
Thousands of homes have been damaged and livestock wiped out, the Taliban-run refugee ministry said. Humanitarian organisations have said healthcare facilities and vital infrastructure like water have been damaged by the floods, with streets left coated in mud.
In the Nahrin district of Baghlan province, people carried their shrouded dead to a gravesite.
“We have no food, no drinking water, no shelter, no blankets, nothing at all, floods have destroyed everything,” said Mr Muhammad Yahqoob, who lost 13 members of his family, children among them.
The survivors were struggling to cope, he added.
“Out of 42 houses, only two or three remain. (The floods have) destroyed the entire valley.”
Afghanistan is prone to natural disasters and is considered by the UN to be one of the countries most vulnerable to climate change. It has faced an aid shortfall after the Taliban took over as foreign forces withdrew in 2021, and development aid that formed the backbone of government finances was cut.
That has worsened in subsequent years as foreign governments face global competing crises and due to condemnation of Taliban restrictions on Afghan women from aid work.
The Taliban’s economy minister, Mr Din Mohammad Hanif, in a statement on May 12 called on the UN, humanitarian agencies and private business to provide support to those who have been affected by the floods.
“Lives and livelihoods have been washed away,” said Mr Arshad Malik, the Afghanistan director for Save the Children. “The flash floods tore through villages, sweeping away homes and killing livestock.”
He estimated that 310,000 children lived in the worst-hit districts, adding: “Children have lost everything.”
The refugee ministry said May 12’s latest tally of the dead and injured came from its Baghlan provincial office, according to a post on X. REUTERS
