Six people have been killed and dozens of homes washed away in flooding that took place in central Afghanistan, local authorities said on Wednesday.
Abdul Wahid Hamas, a spokesman for the Taliban governor in central Ghor province, said three women and a child were killed when their house in the town of Firozkoh was washed away on Tuesday.
In Pasaband district, in the same province, a man and a woman were also swept away and later found dead, while another person remains missing, Hamas said.
More than 100 houses and about 200 hectares (500 acres) of agricultural land were destroyed, with canals used to irrigate the fields damaged, he said.
“We don’t have more details of the financial losses for now,” Hamas told AFP.
Afghanistan is gripped by one of the world’s worst humanitarian disasters according to aid agencies, and research describes the nation as highly vulnerable to the effects of extreme weather conditions brought about by climate change.
Nine out of ten Afghan families cannot afford enough food, the World Food Programme said in March.
Since the collapse of the US-backed government and the Taliban’s return to power in 2021, huge inflows of aid dried up — with foreign nations wary of dealing with Kabul’s new rulers.
NGOs and the UN have also been subjected to restrictions by the Taliban government over employment of Afghan women to carry out vital aid work, whilst the world body has struggled to secure cash donations.
Ghor province has also been the epicentre of a prolonged drought in recent years.
Source: PUNCH
In other news-SA, Zim police collude in drug smuggling
The local police, South African Police Service (SAPS), and other state agents are conniving with smugglers to facilitate the smooth crossing of illegal drugs and other illicit substances including cigarettes through porous borders exposing the two countries to dangerous drugs, a Business Times investigation has shown.
A month-long investigation that included engaging local bus owners, conductors, and drivers who work closely with touts mainly at the Roadport, Highglen, and other centers housing cross-border busses, also unearthed a closely-knit team of smugglers that work with local police, the SAPS, and other security arms to transport huge volumes of dangerous substances. Learn more
