At least 57 dead, 77 injured due to floods in Afghanistan
Kabul, Jul 12 (EFE).- At least 57 people died and another 77 were injured by heavy rains and floods in recent days in eastern Afghanistan, while the Taliban government has warned the number could increase in the coming days.
The rains gained momentum across the country since Jul.7, and have claimed 57 lives and injured 77 others in at least 10 provinces in Afghanistan, Ministry of Disaster Management spokesperson Mohammad Nasim Haqani told EFE on Tuesday.
The floods also caused material losses due to the partial or complete destruction “of 2,250 residential homes, 12,000 acres (about 4,800 hectares) of agricultural land, 100 agricultural dams, and seven kilometers of roads,” he added.
According to the Ministry of Disaster Management, the provinces of Ghazni, Laghman, Paktia, Paktika, Maidan Wardak, Kandahar, Parwan, Zabul and Uruzgan were worst affected by the rains.
In Uruzgan alone, the authorities have so far confirmed 26 dead and 29 injured.
The Taliban government also said that the toll of casualties and injuries could worsen in the coming days if the rains do not stop.
Afghanistan is still recovering from the aftermath of a 5.9-degree earthquake on Jun.22, in which more than 1,000 people died and some 1,500 were injured, marking one of the worst natural catastrophes in the country in recent decades.
The Asian country suffers from frequent natural disasters causing loss of lives and, such as the landslides that killed 2,000 people in May 2014 in northeastern Afghanistan.
In July 2021, floods triggered by heavy rains left at least 200 dead and one locality razed to the ground in eastern Afghanistan.
Moreover, the situation has been aggravated by nearly two decades of war, and the economic crisis plaguing the country, especially since the fundamentalists came to power last year. EFE
lk-hbc/sc
