Focus now on Afghan families displaced by landslide

<br /> <div class="slideshow " style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 20.5714111328125px; overflow: hidden; position: relative;"> <div class="slideshow__slide slideshow__slide--first" style="box-sizing: border-box; float: left; margin-left: 0px; visibility: visible; width: 505.5px;"> <table class="media media--left one-whole palm--one-whole" style="border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; clear: left; float: left; margin: 0px 10px 0px 0px; max-width: 100%; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: relative; table-layout: fixed; width: 505px;"><tbody style="box-sizing: border-box;"> <tr style="box-sizing: border-box;"><td class="media__item " style="-webkit-user-select: none; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; line-height: 0; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 303px; position: relative; text-align: center;"><img alt="Villagers rendered homeless by the calamity sit on the ground near tents pitched for the affected.—AFP" src="http://i.dawn.com/primary/2014/05/5367101483f3f.jpg?r=1334670899" style="border: 0px; bottom: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: italic; left: 0px; margin: auto; max-height: 100%; max-width: 100%; position: absolute; right: 0px; top: 0px;" title="Villagers rendered homeless by the calamity sit on the ground near tents pitched for the affected.—AFP" /></td></tr> <tr style="box-sizing: border-box;"><td class="media__caption media__caption--black" style="background-color: black; box-sizing: border-box; color: white; font-size: 0.85714em; margin: 0px; opacity: 0.85; padding: 0.45em;"><div class="media__excerpt" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0px;"> Villagers rendered homeless by the calamity sit on the ground near tents pitched for the affected.—AFP</div> </td></tr> </tbody></table> </div> </div> <div class="story__body soft--top" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 20.5714111328125px; padding-top: 18px !important;"> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;"> <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">ABI BARIK (Afghanistan): As Afghans observed a day of mourning on Sunday for the hundreds of people killed in a horrific landslide, authorities tried to help the 700 families displaced by the torrent of mud that swept through their village.</span></div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;"> The families left their homes due to the threat of more landslides in the village of Abi Barik in Badakhshan province, Minister for Rural Rehabilitation Wais Ahmad Barmak said.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;"> Another reason for the evacuation was the threat of flooding caused in part by the landslide itself, said Mohammad Daim Kakar, from the Afghanistan Natural Disaster Management Authority. He said the shifting earth had made it difficult for water to drain through the valley — a serious concern as rain continued to fall on Sunday.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;"> Engineers are working on a plan to divert the water, he said.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;"> Aid groups and the government have rushed to the remote area in northeastern Afghanistan bordering Tajikistan and China with food, shelter and water. But for those affected, help was slow to arrive.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;"> “My family, my wife and eight children are alive, but have nothing to use as shelter. We have nothing to eat,” said Barat Bay, a 50-year-old farmer and father of eight.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;"> “We have passed the last two nights with our children at the top of this hill with no tent, no blanket.”</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;"> Kakar, who visited the area on Sunday, acknowledged that aid had yet to reach some people but said their efforts were complicated by villagers from areas unaffected by the landslide also coming to claim the aid.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;"> A spokesman for the International Organisation of Migration, Matt Graydon, said the group was bringing in solar-powered lanterns, blankets and shelter kits. He said after a visit to the area that some residents had gone to nearby villages to stay with family or friends while others had slept out in the open. “Some people left with almost nothing,” Graydon said.</div> </div>

Focus now on Afghan families displaced by landslide

Villagers rendered homeless by the calamity sit on the ground near tents pitched for the affected.—AFP ABI BARIK (Afghanistan):...

Read more »