Heavy snow cuts off 9 Badakhshan’s districts

FAIZABAD (Pajhwok): Heavy snowfall has blocked roads connecting nine districts with the capital of northeastern Badakhshan province, an official said on Thursday.

Badakhshan which has 28 districts is one of impassable provinces of the country. It shares borders with Tajikistan, China and Pakistan.

The thickness of snow in some parts of the province during winter season reaches 1.5 meters and some districts remain cut off for eight months of a year.

Local officials said the non-stop snowing during the past three days had blocked roads of nine districts.

Provincial Council secretary Ahmad Javid Javid told Pajhwok Afghan News the roads had been blocked in Ragh, Yawan and Kufab districts, disconnecting them from Faizabad, the provincial capital.

He said the roads in Darwazha area that connected Mahmi, Nusi, Shuki, Kufab and Khwahan districts had also been blocked.

The people of these areas using animals travelled for three days to reach Faizabad city and transfer food and other necessary items home, he said.

In 2012, local officials had said that 12 children aged between six months and four years lost their lives due to cough and pneumonia and 320 others were under threat of diseases as a result of harsh weather conditions in Nusi district.

The provincial council secretary said the road to Shaghnan district that shares border with Tajikistan has also been blocked.

Jalaluddin, a resident of Khwahan district, said patients and pregnant women could not be shifted to clinics due to snow and some of them could possibly die. He said the prices of goods had increased.

A member of the provincial peace committee, Abdul Wahid Taibi, said that heavy snowfall had created serious problems for people.

He recalled some pregnant women died as result of road blockades in districts last year.

He said local and central government officials had several times been shared these problems, but to no avail.

However, provincial Natural Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) director Sayed Abdullah Homayon said aid agencies including the World Food Program (WFP) had stored food items in Darwazha and Ragha areas to be distributed to people when needed.

mds/ma

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