ISLAMABAD: Relatives and survivors of the devastating flash floods in Afghanistan’s northern Baghlan province were still searching for the missing relatives on Monday, a couple of days after torrents of water ripped through a number of villages in the province that killed over 300 people.
Earlier, last Friday, heavy rains caused flash flooding in multiple Afghan provinces, killing more than 300 people in Baghlan alone, as reported by UN agencies and government officials.
Meanwhile, the rescue workers and aid supply suffered challenges in reaching some of the worst affected areas. Another worrisome issue was the fear of an increase in the death toll as some of the areas were still not accessed.
A local labourer at Fulool village, Samiullah Omari had found the bodies of seven of his relatives, however, his uncle and uncle’s grandson were still missing.
Talking to AFP he said that they tried hard to search the bodies of the missing relatives but still didn’t manage.
Devastating Flood in Afghanistan
The area being stretched in kilometres has been covered by, debris and limbs of livestock jutting out from the thick brown sludge where homes once stood.
Neither Omari nor his 70-year-old father have ever seen “such havoc-wreaking floods”, in their whole life.
The WHO (World Health Organization) has warned of rising cases of water-borne diseases in flood-affected regions.
According to WHO, the full scale of the damage was not yet known, as the country lacked the necessary resources and equipment to manage a disaster of such a huge magnitude.
A few dozen of the locals along with Samiullah Omari and his relatives took refuge in a house situated on a higher ground.
“God protected us along with 60-70 people and we survived it,” he lamented adding that their houses and all their belongings were washed away in the devastating floods.
In addition, a negligible amount of aid had arrived with Taliban government agencies and a few humanitarians, who braved washed-out roads for hours to reach the remote and isolated village with food and water. A number of Tents have been set up near the village to provide health aid.
