The province of Badakhshan hit by torrential rains and massive landslides. The worst situation in the village of Hargu, where 215 family homes have been covered with dirt, mud and rocks. Rescuers forced to dig with their bare hands: lack of heavy machinery.

Kabul ( AsiaNews) - The massive landslide that yesterday struck the northeastern province of Badakhshan is believed to have buried at least 2 thousand people in the rubble of their homes. This is confirmed by the Afghan government and the United Nations: the rescuers are desperately trying to work with rudimentary tools to help the local population. More than 350 bodies have been pulled from the mud, but the body count is set to climb. Police are carrying bread and water to the thousands of people who spent the night outdoors, under the torrential rains that swamped the area for about 3 days.

The province of Badakhshan is a mountainous region characterized by rural districts: landslides and avalanches strike on an annual basis during the rainy season. However, the avalanche of mud that buried 500 houses in the area of Hargu was unexpected. Rescuers are trying to do as mush as possible to dig out the buried and collapsed houses, but without heavy machinery and appropriate tools seems to be a losing battle. Any available bulldozers are hundreds of miles away, and the situation of the roads rules out any rapid transport.

The United Nations mission in Afghanistan has issued a statement which reads: "The number of deceased has increased to 350 and significant displacement is expected". There are a total of 1000 homes involved, and the fact that the landslide occurred on Friday - the day of rest in the country - means that entire families were inside the buildings. The village of Hargu, 215 families, is completely covered by rocks and soil. Some sources believe that it is "almost impossible" for someone to be pulled alive from there.

 

• AFGHANISTAN
• landslide
• UN
• north
• east
• moutain
• village
• rescue
• operations