Afghan notebook: Pulling together in face of disaster

<img alt="Travellers use a ladder to cross a river where rains have washed away the main Mazar-Kabul highway" src="http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/74842000/jpg/_74842533_19.jpg" /><br /> <br /> <div class="caption full-width" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #505050; float: none; font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 15px; position: relative;"> <span style="display: block; width: 624px;">Travellers have been forced to improvise after floods washed away parts of the main Mazar-Kabul highway</span></div> <div class="story-feature related narrow" style="background-color: white; clear: right; color: #505050; display: inline; float: right; font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px; margin: 0px -160px 16px 16px; overflow: hidden; position: relative; width: 144px;"> <a class="hidden" href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-27408293#story_continues_1" style="color: #4a7194; font-weight: bold; left: -5000px; position: absolute; text-decoration: none; top: -5000px;">Continue reading the main story</a><h2 style="border-bottom-color: rgb(216, 216, 216); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(216, 216, 216); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; font-size: 1.231em; margin: 0px 0px 8px; padding: 11px 0px 12px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;"> Related Stories</h2> <ul class="related-links-list" style="border-top-style: none; clear: both; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 8px 0px 0px;"> <li style="background-image: none; font-size: 1em; margin: 0px 0px 8px; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-rendering: auto;"><a class="story" href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-27273684" rel="published-1399180577450" style="color: #4a7194; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">Day of mourning for Afghan mudslide</a></li> <li style="background-image: none; font-size: 1em; margin: 0px 0px 8px; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-rendering: auto;"><a class="story" href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-26978770" rel="published-1398303604520" style="color: #4a7194; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">Afghan notebook: First timers</a></li> <li style="background-image: none; font-size: 1em; margin: 0px 0px 8px; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-rendering: auto;"><a class="story" href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-26576308" rel="published-1395177879496" style="color: #4a7194; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">Afghan notebook: Wowing the crowds</a></li> </ul> </div> <div class="introduction" id="story_continues_1" style="background-color: white; clear: left; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 1.077em; font-weight: bold; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: auto;"> Floods and landslides have claimed hundreds of lives in northern Afghanistan. Floodwaters have cut the main road link between north and south, but a wave of sympathy for the victims is uniting Afghans as never before.</div> <div style="background-color: white; clear: left; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 1.077em; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: auto;"> Eighteen-year old Amanullah's world fell apart last month.</div> <div style="background-color: white; clear: left; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 1.077em; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: auto;"> The poor ethnic Uzbek farmer from Jowzjan province was at a friend's wedding in the nearby town of Sheberghan when he got the news.</div> <div style="background-color: white; clear: left; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 1.077em; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: auto;"> All six members of his immediate family - parents, two sisters and two brothers - had been swept away and killed, when flash floods struck their village.</div> <div class="caption full-width" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #505050; float: none; font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 15px; position: relative;"> <img alt="Amanullah's family was one of many hit hard by the flash floods" height="351" src="http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/74851000/jpg/_74851742_amanullah.jpg" style="-webkit-user-select: none; border: 0px; font-style: italic; letter-spacing: 0px; position: relative;" width="624" /><span style="display: block; width: 624px;">Amanullah's family was one of many hit hard by the flash floods</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; clear: left; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 1.077em; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: auto;"> When Amanullah returned, his house had been reduced to rubble, and the only trace of his family was a doll which his little sister had stuck on a tree.</div> <div style="background-color: white; clear: left; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 1.077em; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: auto;"> His family are among the dozens of people killed in floods that have swept across northern Afghanistan in recent weeks. Thousands of houses have been destroyed and tens of thousands of people have been affected.</div> <div class="caption full-width" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #505050; float: none; font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 15px; position: relative;"> <img alt="Thousands of travellers were left stranded as the main road from North to South was cut" height="351" src="http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/74842000/jpg/_74842535_18.jpg" style="-webkit-user-select: none; border: 0px; font-style: italic; letter-spacing: 0px; position: relative;" width="624" /><span style="display: block; width: 624px;">Thousands of travellers were left stranded as the main road from north to south was cut</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; clear: left; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 1.077em; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: auto;"> This week flood waters also washed away a big section of the main north-south road in the Tashqorghan gorge, effectively cutting off the north of the country.</div> <div class="story-feature wide " style="background-color: white; clear: right; color: #505050; display: inline; float: right; font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px; margin: 0px -160px 16px 16px; overflow: hidden; position: relative; width: 304px;"> <a class="hidden" href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-27408293#story_continues_2" style="color: #4a7194; font-weight: bold; left: -5000px; position: absolute; text-decoration: none; top: -5000px;">Continue reading the main story</a><h2 style="border-bottom-color: rgb(216, 216, 216); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(216, 216, 216); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; font-size: 1.231em; margin: 0px 0px 8px; padding: 11px 0px 12px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;"> BBC Afghan notebook</h2> <div style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 12px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: auto;"> This is where our reporters share stories beyond the daily conflict and politics of a country going through the most important election in its recent history as foreign troops withdraw.</div> <div style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 12px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: auto;"> We'll focus on the surprising while treating the familiar from fresh angles, combined with a street-level view of a country in transition.</div> <div style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 12px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: auto;"> Most of the posts will be written, photographed or filmed by our journalists across Afghanistan.</div> <div style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 12px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: auto;"> You can use #BBCAfghanNotebook to follow our reports via Twitter.</div> <ul class="links-list" style="border-top-color: rgb(232, 232, 232); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; clear: both; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 7px 0px 0px;"> <li style="background-image: none; font-size: 1em; margin: 0px 0px 8px; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-rendering: auto;"><a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-25950835" style="color: #174f82; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">On song, off message</a></li> <li style="background-image: none; font-size: 1em; margin: 0px 0px 8px; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-rendering: auto;"><a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-26327012" style="color: #174f82; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">Gold chairs and vodka</a></li> <li style="background-image: none; font-size: 1em; margin: 0px 0px 8px; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-rendering: auto;"><a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-26087306" style="color: #174f82; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">Bomb-proof call centre</a></li> <li style="background-image: none; font-size: 1em; margin: 0px 0px 8px; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-rendering: auto;"><a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-26576308" style="color: #174f82; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">Wowing the crowds</a></li> <li style="background-image: none; font-size: 1em; margin: 0px 0px 8px; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-rendering: auto;"><a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-26876844" style="color: #174f82; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">Spotting fraud</a></li> </ul> </div> <div id="story_continues_2" style="background-color: white; clear: left; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 1.077em; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: auto;"> Thousands of travellers are now stranded on both sides. Emergency repair work will take at least 10 days.</div> <div style="background-color: white; clear: left; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 1.077em; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: auto;"> Further north-east in Badakhshan province, people are still reeling from a devastating landslide at the start of the month.</div> <div style="background-color: white; clear: left; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 1.077em; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: auto;"> Three hundred houses were engulfed in thick mud in one of the poorest districts, Argo. Hundreds of people, including many women and children, are thought to have been killed.</div> <div style="background-color: white; clear: left; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 1.077em; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: auto;"> After news of the landslide emerged the government declared a day of national mourning and ordered emergency assistance.</div> <div style="background-color: white; clear: left; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 1.077em; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: auto;"> But it was the public response to the disaster that has been unprecedented.</div> <div style="background-color: white; clear: left; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 1.077em; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: auto;"> In Afghanistan ethnicity is still a big issue. The victims of the Argo tragedy were ethnic Uzbeks, but all the country's different groups - from Pashtuns to Hazaras and Tajiks - have come together to help.</div>

Afghan notebook: Pulling together in face of disaster

Travellers have been forced to improvise after floods washed away parts of the main Mazar-Kabul highway Continue reading the main story...

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