Afghan Avalanche Exposes Vagaries of Climate and of Aid
The massive avalanche that crushed a village in the far reaches of northern Afghanistan this week, killing at least 50 people, was part of a pattern of extreme temperatures and heavier snowfall that has spread suffering and underscored the government’s continued failings despite a decade of outside assistance and billions of dollars in aid.
And as the first outside rescuers began on Wednesday to dig for survivors, fearing that most of the 200 inhabitants of the tiny village, Sherin Nazim, might be lost, relief groups and aid workers were bracing for a potentially even worse catastrophe: flooding as the snow melts. They said it could affect a far wider swath of people and land in the north, adding that the authorities appeared woefully unprepared.
“After two weeks, the floods will start,” said Mohammad Daim Kakar, director general of the Afghanistan National Disaster Management Authority, as he appealed for help.
“From the flood, there will be another disaster,” he said.
The United Nations said tons of extra medicine and food had been flown into the area before the snows in the fall, part of a new strategy to help the remote mountainous region cope with the increasingly harsh winters.
But that did not appear to help the people of Sherin Nazim. “Three days ago this happened, and so far there is no medicine, no food, no rescue yet in the area,” said Fawzia Koofi, a member of Parliament from Badakhshan Province. “After 10 years and spending millions of dollars, why can’t we establish food and medicine stocks in every province so that there are always supplies for natural disasters? This is the question the government should answer. Where are they spending the money?”