Tuesday January 31, 2017
Kabul (BNA) Recent rainfalls and snowfalls have been warmly welcomed by the Afghan people, however, Afghanistan has had water problems since eight years.
However, agriculture is the main source of people livelihood in some provinces, but recent snowfalls have faced them with many problems. Based on figures released by the government ministry on addressing natural incidents, recent snowfalls have taken the lives of 21 people, injured 16 others and destroyed 59 residential houses in fifteen provinces of the country. This is not the first time that the people lose their lives due to rainfalls and snowfalls, in fact, Urgo avalanche and floods in Northern provinces are called as the most dangerous natural incidents the people have ever witnessed and won’t be forgotten. According to estimated figures, almost 20000 people had been killed due to earthquakes over the last forty years, but, the exact number of those had been killed due to cold weather or avalanches is not clear. Each year, thousands of houses get beneath the avalanches or being destroyed by floods. Unfortunately, due to lack of technical equipment and staff, the related entities are not able to do their responsibilities as it is expected.
For instance, the people could see falling down of a person from the eight or ninth floor in Abasin Zadran, which resulted to his death. These all show the Kabul firefighters negligence. Afghanistan has suffered more than three decades of war since the Soviet invasion in 1979.
But natural disasters such as landslides, floods and avalanches have taken a toll on a country with little infrastructure or development outsides of its major cities. Likewise, in Urgo incident, most of foreign assisting organizations had come there to help the affected-people, or the relevant officials wouldn’t be able to do anything but to take some memorial shots.
The local people’s awareness is also a problem. Though natural hazards are recognized as potentially devastating, there still is a lack of understanding about how acutely dangerous the situation is. Most of the communities are also too poor to move to new places. Lack of land in the nearby areas to settle on is also an issue. In fact, when winter arrives, some people are happy, but some others are not. Snowfalls and rainfalls can sometimes be followed by many problems in a number of provinces, instead of bringing happiness. Actually, avalanches are common hydro-meteorological hazard in northern Afghanistan. It is the deadliest natural hazard after earthquakes and floods in the country.
Lailuma Noori
