KABUL, Afghanistan
Flooding in Afghanistan this
month killed more than 180 people, the Taliban said on Thursday, appealing to
the international community for help.
Flooding has wrought
widespread devastation in central and eastern Afghan provinces in recent weeks,
washing away thousands of houses and exacerbating the country's economic and
humanitarian crisis.
"The Islamic Emirate of
Afghanistan can't manage the floods alone, we ask the world, international
organizations and Islamic countries to help us," Taliban spokesman
Zabihullah Mujahid said at a news conference.
Mujahid said 182 people had
been killed by floods this month and 250 injured. More than 3,100 houses had
been completely destroyed and thousands of livestock were killed.
Afghanistan has been reeling
from natural disasters this year, including drought and an earthquake that
killed more than 1,000 people in June. The nation has been largely cut off from
the international financial system since the Taliban took over a year ago.
In Khoshi district in central
Logar province, aid workers described widespread destruction from the powerful
floods in recent days, with fields of crops reduced to mud and bodies of dead
animals lying in piles.
Around 20,0000 people in the
district were affected by flooding and 20 people, including at least six
children, had been killed with two more missing, the U.N. children's agency
said.
"People lost
everything...they lost everything overnight," said Anne Kindrachuk,
central region chief for UNICEF Afghanistan, said after a visit to the area.
"There are three tent
communities or camps but (people) are unsure what comes next, how they are
going to eat this winter, their livelihoods were wiped out," she said.
No comments:
Post a Comment