Saturday, May 08, 2010

Dodental overstromingen Afghanistan blijft oplopen.. ( BBC)

Fresh floods hit northern Afghanistan

The western provinces are the worst hit

Fresh floods caused by heavy rains have hit northern Afghanistan, after a week of flooding across the country in which at least 65 people died.

Western provinces have been worst hit by the deluge over the past few days, Afghan authorities told the BBC.

Thousands of families have been affected as mud homes were damaged or demolished and swathes of agricultural land destroyed.

UN and Afghan officials said they were working to get aid to those affected.

But they warned that more rain was expected in the country in coming days and this could worsen the situation.

"The Afghan government and the UN have mobilised air and ground teams to help those affected with food and non-food aid," head of Afghanistan's department for disaster management, Abdul Mateen Edrak, told the BBC.

A number of residents from the affected areas told the BBC that they needed help.

They said hundreds of livestock and hundreds of hectares of agricultural land were destroyed in the flooding.