At least 300 people died due to heavy flooding in the province of Baghlan, in northern Afghanistan, the United Nations Food Program (WFP) said this Saturday, in a natural disaster that also spreads to other provinces in the country. Asian.
“Flash floods ravage Afghanistan, killing more than 300 people in Baghlan and destroying more than 1,000 homes,” said the WFP, which attributed the natural disaster to “unusually” heavy rains in recent weeks and claimed to be distributing food to survivors. .
The interim Taliban government has reduced the death toll for the moment to 153 people 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 number of deaths could increase,” Afghan Interior Ministry spokesman Abdul Mateen Qani told EFE. .
According to data provided by the Taliban, 131 people died in Baghlan, 21 in neighboring Takhar and another 2 in Badakhshan.
The Afghan Ministry of Disaster Management also indicated that the provinces of Samangan, Faryab, Herat or Ghor were also affected, although it did not reveal data on 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 competent authorities to mobilize all available resources to carry out rescue operations,” said the main spokesperson. of the fundamentalists, Zabiullah Mujahid, in a statement.
Afghanistan has witnessed heavy snowfall, heavy rain and flash floods in recent weeks.
The Asian country is one of the most vulnerable in the world to climate change and the least prepared to adapt, according to a report by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
Adding to the vulnerable situation is the interruption of much of the international aid and the freezing of the country’s funds, after the Taliban took power in August 2021.
In July 2021, at least 260 people died after a series of floods caused by heavy rains in the Nuristan region, then controlled by the Taliban even though they had not yet taken control of the country.
