Heavy snow and rainfall kill 61 folks in Afghanistan : NPR

[ad_1] <img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/6000x3711+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F9c%2Ff7%2Fe28f8bc249229d9fa78ba26af8d7%2Fap26024503166015.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/6000x3711+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F9c%2Ff7%2Fe28f8bc249229d9fa78ba26af8d7%2Fap26024503166015.jpg" class="img" alt="Snow covers the streets of the town of Ghazni , southwest from Kabul, Sunday, Jan. 24, 2025. Heavy snow and rainfall over the past three days have killed and injured scores of people across Afghanistan, the country's disaster management authority said Saturday." fetchpriority="high"/> Snow covers the streets of the city of Ghazni , southwest from Kabul, Sunday, Jan. 24, 2025. Heavy snow and rainfall over the previous three days have killed and injured scores of individuals throughout Afghanistan, the nation's catastrophe administration authority mentioned Saturday. Mohammad Amin/AP conceal caption

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Mohammad Amin/AP KABUL, Afghanistan — Heavy snow and rainfall over the previous three days have killed greater than 60 folks and injured over 100 throughout Afghanistan, the nation's catastrophe administration authority mentioned Saturday, as authorities within the impoverished nation struggled to open roads and acquire entry to cut-off villages.

Nationwide Catastrophe Administration Authority spokesman Yousaf Hammad mentioned 61 folks had died and 110 had been injured, whereas 458 properties had been fully or partially destroyed and a whole bunch of animals had died in 15 of Afghanistan's 34 provinces. The numbers, he mentioned, might change as authorities gathered extra info from the provinces.

Afghanistan is very weak to excessive climate occasions, with snow and heavy rain that triggers flash floods typically killing dozens, and even a whole bunch, of individuals at a time. In 2024, greater than 300 folks died in springtime flash floods.

Many years of battle coupled with poor infrastructure, a struggling economic system, deforestation and the intensifying results of local weather change have amplified the affect of such disasters, significantly in distant areas the place many properties are constructed of mud and supply restricted safety in opposition to sudden deluges or heavy snowfall.

The nation's japanese provinces are additionally nonetheless struggling to get well from devastating earthquakes that struck final yr, in late August and once more in November, destroying villages and killing greater than 2,200 folks.

These displaced by the quakes are significantly weak to the acute chilly and dangerous climate circumstances. In December, UNICEF mentioned an estimated 270,000 kids within the areas affected by the quakes had been at "extreme danger of life-threatening illnesses associated to the chilly."

Earlier this month, the United Nations mentioned Afghanistan would "stay one of many world's largest humanitarian crises in 2026." The U.N. and its humanitarian companions launched a $1.7 billion attraction to help practically 18 million folks in pressing want within the nation.