RAWALPINDI-
Pakistan on Saturday dispatched relief goods via two C130 aircrafts from Rawalpindi’s Nur Khan airbase to Afghanistan’s Panjshir province where a massive avalanche has killed 186 people and destroyed more than 100 homes.
According to a statement issued by the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR), relief goods edible products as well as tents, blankets, stoves, and medicines.
Over 250 lives have been lost on a series of avalanches triggered by heavy snowfall around Afghanistan this week.
180 lives were lost in Panjshir province, north of Kabul.
The avalanches came after days of heavy snow, which destroyed more than 100 homes in the province and blocked main roads, making it difficult for rescue workers to reach the stricken villages.
The death toll was confirmed by Panjshir provincial police chief, Abdul Aziz Ghairat.
“The volume of snow is really huge in districts in Panjshir,” Ghairat said, “There are some districts where we do not have any any news from them, the communication lines have cut off due to avalanches.”
Mohammad Aslam Sayas, deputy chief of the Afghanistan National Disaster Management Authority, said the army was distributing supplies to people in areas of Panjshir still unreachable by road.
“Helicopters are dropping medicines, blankets and other necessary items to remote areas of Panjshir,” Sayas said.
Elsewhere in Afghanistan, 36 died in the remote northeastern province of Badakhshan, five in northern Baghlan, five in Parwan and 12 in Nuristan and Kunar provinces in the east, and five in western Badghis. Six were killed in the central province of Bamiyan, four in Laghman and one in Nangarhar, both in the east — bringing the total toll to at least 260.
Deadly avalanches are common in Afghanistan’s mountainous areas in winter. One in the remote far northeast in 2012 left 145 people missing, presumed dead.
Despite the billions of dollars in aid from the international community after the collapse of the Taliban in 2001, Afghanistan remains among the world’s poorest nations after decades of conflict.
Rescue efforts after disasters such as avalanches and flash floods, which often hit as snows melt in the spring, are frequently hampered by lack of equipment.
Poor infrastructure makes it difficult for rescue teams to reach isolated areas.
