اردو
  • Landslide claims 52 lives in northeast Afghanistan

    People search for survivors on May 9, 2014, following a landslide in Abi Barak village of Afghanistan’s northeastern province Badakhshan. Photo by AFP People search for survivors on May 9, 2014, following a landslide in Abi Barak village of Afghanistan’s northeastern province Badakhshan.

    At least 52 people have lost their lives when a massive landslide took place in a remote area of Afghanistan’s northeastern province of Badakhshan near the border with Tajikistan.

    Provincial governor, Shah Waliullah Adeeb, said the natural calamity happened in Khwahan district, located around 200 kilometers (124 miles) north of the provincial capital, Faizabad, early on Tuesday.

    Adeeb further said the area is difficult to reach as the roads to it are now covered with snow, and that the “only way to reach it is by helicopter.”

    Mohammad Ghufran Zaki, Khwahan, district chief, also said 25 women, 22 children and five men were so far reported to have been killed in the mudslide, adding that local people are working to remove those buried.

    Meanwhile, the director for Afghanistan National Disaster Management Authority (ANDMA) in Badakhshan Province, Sayed Abdullah Humayun Dehqan, called on the central government in Kabul to provide air support for relief activities in the area.

    Badakhshan province has been hit by a number of landslides in recent years.

    On May 2, 2014, a pair of mudslides occurred in Argo district of Badakhshan province. It is estimated that 2,700 were killed, while round 300 houses were buried and over 14,000 affected.

    Hundreds of homes were destroyed in the landslide that was triggered by days of heavy rainfall in the region. Over 4,000 people were reportedly displaced as a result of the natural disaster.

    Many homes in rural areas of Afghanistan are reportedly built of mud or stones and are easily washed away by flooding

    Afghanistan is highly vulnerable to various kinds of natural disasters, which adversely impact the lives of thousands of people every year, according to international aid agencies.