GENEVA (WAM)
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said that an estimate of over 145,000 people have been affected by natural disasters throughout Afghanistan since the start of the year.
During a press conference held on Friday, in Geneva, UNHCR Spokesperson Babar Baloch said that UNHCR and other humanitarian operations in Afghanistan remain severely underfunded, adding that UNHCR’s operation in Afghanistan is currently only 44 percent funded.
He explained that Monday’s rainstorms and heavy flooding in the country’s Central and Eastern regions left at least 40 people dead, more than 340 injured and many more displaced.
“Many roads, bridges, homes and public buildings have been damaged or destroyed. It is expected that figures will rise when more areas become accessible to rescue and assessment teams,” he said.
He stressed that the latest floods follow devastating flash floods in May, which hit large areas of northern, northeastern and western Afghanistan, killing and injuring more than 683 people, with widespread damage to infrastructure, homes and agricultural lands.
“Initial estimates suggest thousands of people were affected in the severely hit provinces of Nangarhar, Laghman and Kunar,” Baloch noted, adding that some of the worst-hit areas are in districts with high numbers of displaced Afghans and refugee returnees, where UNHCR had been working with others to provide protection assistance and essential services.