Nearly 100 people die in flash floods in Afghanistan

Kabul [Afghanistan], August 23 : Due to heavy rain and flash flooding in Afghanistan, 95 people were killed, hundreds of others injured and swept away thousands of homes in Afghanistan, according to authorities in the crisis-hit country.
The deaths occurred across 10 provinces over the past 10 days, authorities said, as the country reels from an economic and humanitarian crisis exacerbated by Western sanctions imposed after the Taliban returned to power last year, reported CNN.
The extreme weather also comes as neighbouring Pakistan experiences relentless flooding. The Disaster Management Authority there said floods have killed 820 people since mid-June, with nearly 320,000 houses damaged or destroyed and 129 bridges affected.
In Afghanistan, Deputy Minister of Disaster Management, Sharafuddin Muslim told CNN emergency food assistance had been dispatched to many flood-affected areas and aid organizations had promised to deliver emergency assistance but it may not be enough.
"Winter is arriving soon and these affected families including women and children do not have shelter to live under. All their agricultural farms and orchards have either been completely destroyed or their harvest has been damaged," Sharafuddin said.
"If these people are not helped to get back to normalcy, their situation will definitely get worse in the coming weeks and months."
Afghanistan has recently been hit by a series of natural disasters and extreme weather events, including an earthquake in June that killed more than 1,000 people, reported CNN.
Sharafuddin called on aid organizations, the United Nations and the global community to help flood-affected Afghans with not only emergency assistance like food, shelter and medicine but also to help over the longer term since many people have lost their homes, livelihood and drinking water sources.
Heavy rains and flash floods in the Panjshir and Takhar provinces of Afghanistan also damaged property extensively.
Earlier on Friday, an officer of the Disaster Management and Humanitarian Affairs of Panjshir province, Mohammad Akram said, "Heavy rain and flash floods swept out several gardens, farmlands and bridges in Nawabad and Abrina villages of Abshar district on Thursday night."
He said that the property damage was too huge to survey and did not specify whether there was any loss of life. However, he said a survey was underway to identify the affected families, Xinhua reported.
The heavy rains damaged or destroyed around 2,900 houses, a tenfold increase since the last reporting period, and also disrupted livelihoods. Critical civilian infrastructure such as roads and bridges have also been impacted.