More Than 300 Dead by Intense Floods in Afghanistan

Authorities declared a state of emergency and rushed to rescue the injured in Afghanistan after flash floods which caused more than 300 deads in several provinces of the Mid East country.

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"The number of victims is high although, so far and based on initial information, 153 people have died and hundreds have been injured, although the deaths could increase," Afghan Interior Ministry spokesman Abdul Mateen Qani told the news agency EFE.

According to Afghan government data, 131 people died in Baghlan, 21 in neighbouring Takhar and 2 in Badakhshan, and the Ministry of Disaster Management said that the provinces of Samangan, Faryab, Herat and Ghor were also affected.

News agency AFP says that according to Rana Deraz, a communications officer for the UN agency in Afghanistan, "on current information: in Baghlan province there are 311 fatalities, 2,011 houses destroyed and 2,800 houses damaged."

The main government spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid, said in a statement that the interim government has ordered to mobilize "all available resources to carry out rescue operations."

In addition to distributing aid and food, the director of the Disaster Management Department of Badakhshan province, Mohammad Kamgar, said that the rescue teams continue to search for the disappeared after the mud and rubble.

The Asian country is one of the world’s most vulnerable to climate change and least prepared to adapt, according to a report by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA).