Ten members of a family were killed overnight in a village in the capital of Afghanistan’s Badakhshan province due to heavy rainfall and flooding, local officials reported on Sunday.
Rescue teams are searching for additional victims after four bodies were recovered, according to Zabihullah Amiri, head of the information and culture department. No survivors have been reported from the family.
The flooding exacerbates Afghanistan’s severe humanitarian crisis, adding to the death toll from various natural disasters in recent years. The World Food Programme (WFP) stated that recent floods have affected at least 80,000 people in the country.
This month, Afghan authorities reported over 400 deaths due to flash floods across different provinces, with Baghlan province in the north being the hardest hit.
Extreme weather events, such as flash floods and droughts, are increasing in Afghanistan, with experts attributing these to the climate crisis. Despite having a negligible carbon footprint, Afghanistan is among the world’s top 10 climate-impacted nations.
After decades of wars and conflicts, Afghanistan is poorly equipped to handle the effects of climate change. The country is still recovering from multiple earthquakes earlier this year and severe flooding in March.
