The victims of the devastating floods in the Balkh province have asserted that neither the Taliban nor relief agencies have provided them with any assistance since the floods occurred, and only a “survey” of the casualties has been conducted by the Taliban and certain humanitarian organizations in the past few days. These flood victims are demanding the Taliban’s and aid organizations’ help. People of the Zare district had previously reported that the village of “Mirzaei” in this district had lost over 400 homes due to the recent floods. Although there were no fatalities in the most recent floods, the district’s flood victims claim that if their displaced children were not aided, they would perish. Despite the Taliban’s claims of three deaths and seven injuries due to snowfall and heavy rains in seven provinces across the country, sources state that only 10 people have died as a result of flooding in Helmand province. The Ministry of Natural Disaster Risk Management of the Taliban has reported that 756 residential homes, thousands of acres of agricultural land, and numerous animals have all been destroyed as a result of these natural disasters.
In an interview with the Hush-e-Subh, Nizamuddin, a resident of Zare district in Balkh province, claimed that on March 24, many families in Zare had endured a great deal of hardship due to the recent floods. He stated, “There are currently hundreds of displaced families. Hundreds of homes and animals, as well as the roads leading to the center of Zare district, where the health center is located, have been completely destroyed by this flood.”
An anonymous resident of Zare district in Balkh province reported that only the local Taliban authorities and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) have conducted surveys of the flood victims in the area. He noted that, while there have been no fatalities thus far, the children of the victims are in danger of dying if their situation is not addressed properly. He implored the Taliban and humanitarian agencies to provide the flood victims with resources such as food and other necessities.
According to local reports, ten people from Kochi were killed in the Helmand province of Afghanistan due to flooding. A reliable local source, who spoke to Hasht-e-Subh on the condition of anonymity, stated that on March 25th, severe flooding had been ravaging through the villages of Tazni and Khashrood in the Nawzad district of Helmand province, destroying homes and injuring people. The source said, “If the victims’ conditions are not addressed promptly, a disaster will occur. It is also alleged that more than 200 animals have perished in these floods in addition to the human casualties.”
However, Taliban officials in Helmand province denied this information and stated that nothing out of the ordinary had occurred in the Nawzad district. The Taliban’s Ministry of Natural Disaster Risk Management reported that only three people had died and seven more were injured due to floods and snowfall in seven different provinces of Afghanistan.
According to Shafiullah Rahimi, spokesman for the Ministry of Natural Disaster Risk Management of the Taliban, as of Saturday, March 25, 756 houses had been damaged by natural disasters. Rahimi further stated that the 6.5-magnitude earthquake that occurred on Tuesday night, March 21, had resulted in the deaths of 10 people, the injury of approximately 60 others, and the complete or partial destruction of more than 800 homes across various Afghan provinces, including Badakhshan, as well as economic damage.
In the past two days, it has been reported that snowfall and severe flooding have caused fatalities and destruction in the provinces of Balkh, Farah, Zabul, Faryab, Uruzgan, Nangarhar, Kunar, Nuristan, and Laghman. The International Meteorological Agency has predicted that another wave of flooding will hit Afghanistan at the end of the week.
At the start of the solar new year, the Ministry of Natural Disaster Risk Management of the Taliban reported that over 1,100 people had perished in Afghanistan due to natural disasters in the preceding year.
Recently, Afghanistan has been frequently experiencing earthquakes, floods, and heavy snowfall in the winter and spring, which is a result of the Taliban’s inability to manage the high risks of natural disasters.
