150 homes being built for landslide victims

FAIZABAD (Pajhwok): A project to construct 150 homes for families who lost their houses to a massive landslide in the Argo district of southeastern Badakhshan province has been launched, an official said on Saturday.

At least 400 people had died in the landslide on May 2. Despite sufficient aid from foreign organisations to the affected families, they continue to live in absence of basic amenities of life in tents.

Abdul Azim, whose brother and sister died in the disaster, told Pajhwok Afghan News their children could die of cold weather if houses for them were not built at the earliest.

However, Rural Rehabilitation and Development Minister Wais Barmak said that construction work on 150 residential buildings had been launched on Friday and would take two months to complete.

Inaugurating the residential scheme, he said India had donated $1 million to support the project’s implementation. Each building would cost $5,200 and would have two rooms, a kitchen and a bathroom.

Barmak said 150 affected families living under tough conditions would be distributed the houses and more such buildings would be constructed for the rest of the families in future.

He added 800 other families regarded vulnerable to landslides would also be provided with residential buildings elsewhere in a safe place in future.

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