Floods destroy 130 homes in the north

The victims of last week’s floods in the northern Afghan province of Balkh, which damaged 130 houses, have begun to receive humanitarian relief, the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development (MRRD) said on Tuesday. “Following heavy rain, floods completely destroyed 30 mud-built houses and damaged another 100 houses in the Dehdadi district of Balkh province,” said Abdul Rahim Zarin, spokesman for the MRRD in the capital Kabul, adding there were no reports of casualties from the affected area. The provincial authorities have now distributed food and non-food items to the 130 affected families, according to MRRD. “The government has distributed tents, blankets and packages of food items to the affected families,” Zarin noted. While confirming floods in the northern Balkh province, Adrian Edwards, United Nations Assistant Missions in Afghanistan (UNAMA) spokesman, said on Monday that the UN had held a coordination meeting with relevant government departments to plan assistance to those affected by the floods. “UNAMA is coordinating the contributions of various UN agencies to provide and transport non-food items such as blankets and stoves,” Edwards noted, adding a small inter-agency assessment team had been sent to Dehdadi district. In Afghanistan, floods at this time of the year are largely a result of brief temperature rises resulting in rapid snowmelt in upland areas. In January 2005, floods and storms left 48 people dead and more than 1,000 injured in 13 provinces in the northeastern, northern, eastern and southeastern regions. The worst affected area was the northeastern province of Badakhshan where floods killed at least 40 people and left up to 1,000 homes destroyed in 65 villages.