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AFGHANISTAN: Avalanches, floods wreak havoc

Photo: Masoud Popalzai/IRIN

Avalanches in Salang Tunnel on 8-9 February killed over 15 passengers and wounded dozens more, the government said

KABUL, 9 February 2010 (IRIN) - Avalanches on a highway north of Kabul killed at least 15 and injured 55 on 8-9 February, according to the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH). 

[Update: On 10 February the government said 165 people had been killed and over 2,400 passengers rescued.]

Passengers got trapped in their vehicles on either side of the Salang Tunnel, north of Kabul on 9 February. The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) sent two helicopters to help evacuate people and drop essential supplies, the Afghanistan National Disasters Management Authority (ANDMA) said. 

“We are trying our best to evacuate about 700 people as soon as possible,” Abdul Matin Edrak, ANDMA’s director, told IRIN. 

The MoPH said 25 ambulances and dozens of health workers had been sent to the scene, described by Ahmad Shah Wahid, deputy public works minister, as a “disaster”. 

“At least 40 injured have been taken hospital in Charikar City [Parwan Province],” Farid Raaid, MoPH’s spokesman, told IRIN. 

Avalanches and floods have also killed a number of people, destroyed houses and blocked roads in different parts of the country over the past few days. 

Reports received by ANDMA indicate that flash floods and avalanches have left over 30 dead in Kandahar, Farah, Bamyan and Ghor provinces. 

In Brief: Afghan floods, avalanches leave 20 dead

Photo: UNAMA

Flash floods happen quite frequently in Afghanistan (file photo)

This report courtesy of IRIN:

KABUL, 8 February 2010 (IRIN) - Flash floods killed at least 10 people and destroyed hundreds of houses in different parts of Kandahar Province, southern Afghanistan, on 7 February, according to the Afghan Red Crescent Society (ARCS). 

Eleven others, including six women and one child, were killed by avalanches in Farah, Bamyan, Ghor and Daykundi provinces over the past four days, the Afghanistan National Disasters Management Authority said. 

“We do not have the resources to assist flood-affected families,” Najibullah Barith, ARCS’s director in Kandahar, told IRIN, adding that the provincial authorities had summoned an emergency meeting to discuss responses on 8 February. He said Shah Wali Kot and Shorandam districts were worst affected. 

Afghanistan is prone to natural disasters such as floods, avalanches and drought which seriously affect about 400,000 people every year, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). 

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