IRIN
AFGHANISTAN: Lethal floods strike the east
10 NOvember 2006


[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United 
Nations]

KABUL, 10 November (IRIN) - At least four people have been killed and 
five others are missing after flash floods, triggered by torrential 
rains, hit the eastern Afghan province of Nangarhar, the United Nations 
Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said on Friday.

"Early this morning in the Behsoud district of Nangarhar province, 
severe flooding occurred and we can confirm that four people were killed 
as a result and five are currently missing, many others have been 
injured," Dan McNorton, a public information officer with UNAMA, told 
IRIN in Kabul.

"Our initial reports indicate that over 1,000 houses have been destroyed 
either partially or totally," McNorton asserted.

Meanwhile, local authorities in Nangarhar province have called for 
further urgent assistance to thousands of flood-affected people.

"Hundreds of families have been badly affected and are in urgent need of 
tents, blankets and food,"Ajmal Pardis, head of health department of 
Nangarhar province, told IRIN, from Jalalabad, the provincial capital.

Pardis said women and children were also among the dead and their 
medical teams have treated some 30 injured people in the flood-affected 
area.

East and southeastern Afghanistan has seen several episodes of flooding 
this year.

Flash floods on 30 July killed 13 people in the Shirzad district of 
Nangrahar province and washed away more than 1,000 hectares of farmlands 
and destroyed dozens of houses, according to officials.

On 10 August, local authorities confirmed that floods had killed 33 and 
left thousands of people homeless in the southeastern provinces of 
Paktika, Ghazni and Paktia.

Floods killed at least seven people and forced 500 families to leave 
their villages and homes in the northern Afghan province of Baghlan in 
July.

The impoverished country, which has suffered severe environmental 
degradation, including deforestation and consecutive years of drought, 
is particularly vulnerable to floods and other natural disasters, 
experts say.


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