Kabul-:- Afghanistan-:-, More than a 100
people have been killed in a series of avalanches triggered by days of heavy
snowfall around Afghanistan, including 50 in one village, officials said
Sunday, warning the death toll could rise still further. The avalanches struck
after three days of heavy snow, which has destroyed scores of homes and blocked
roads mainly in central and northeastern provinces, making it difficult for
rescue workers to reach the stricken villages.
The bulk of the deaths however occurred in
remote Nuristan province, where at least 50 people were killed in a single
village, Mohammad Omar Mohammadi a spokesman for the ministry of natural
disaster told AFP. "Avalanches have buried two entire villages in
Bargmatal district, 50 bodies were recovered from one village while rescuers
are trying to reach the other village," said the spokesman.
Elsewhere 54 people were killed in northern
and central Afghan provinces, where officials said massive avalanches destroyed
168 houses and killed hundreds of cattle. Bad weather and deep snow had
hampered efforts of rescue workers to reach the isolated villages, raising
fears the toll could rise sharply, according to officials.
In Badakhshan province also in the northeast
of the country, at least 18 people, including three women and two children,
were killed when avalanches struck their houses overnight, said provincial
spokesman Naweed Frotan. "Several dozens are still trapped, we are trying
to rescue them," he said, adding that many roads were still blocked.
Five people were killed by avalanches in the
Balkhab district of Sari Pul province in northern Afghanistan and at least 70
people trapped under the snow were being rescued, said provincial spokesman
Zabiullah Amani. "The roads to Balkhab are still blocked and we are trying
to open them," he said. Freezing weather killed at least two people and
over 100 animals in the western province of Badghis.
In Parwan province just north of Kabul, the
spokesman for governor Wahid Sediqqi said 16 people died.The government
declared Sunday, a normal working day in Afghanistan, to be a public holiday to
deter non-essential travel and ensure schools were closed.
***Heavy
snowfall***
Unusually, snow even fell in the southern
province of Kandahar.
Neighbouring Pakistan was also hit by severe
weather, with at least 13 people killed in the northwest by avalanches or heavy
rain. An avalanche smashed into eight homes in the village of Shershal in Chitral
district, killing nine people including four women and four children. The
region has been hit by heavy snowfall that is four feet (1.2 metres) deep in
some places.
Six people who had been trapped beneath the
snow were rescued.A separate avalanche killed a soldier at a border checkpoint
in Chitral district, a military statement said, while six more soldiers were
injured. Chitral district mayor Maghfriat Shah said the city's airport was
closed because of the weather.
The region's electricity supply was also
disrupted after the main power line was damaged.In the Khyber tribal district
on the Afghan border in the northwest, three infant girls were killed and two
women injured when the roof of their house collapsed in heavy rain.
Deadly avalanches are common in Afghanistan's
mountainous areas in winter and rescue efforts are frequently hampered by lack
of equipment. Despite billions of dollars in international aid after the
ousting of the Taliban government in 2001, Afghanistan remains among the
world's poorest nations.
Last month heavy snowfall and freezing
weather killed 27 children, all under the age of five, in Jawzjan province in
northern Afghanistan.
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