Renewed Flash Floods Due to Unusually Heavy Seasonal Rains Kill at Least 15 People in Afghanistan

An Afghan man stands at the site of flash floods in the Pashah Qol of Baghlan province on May 19, 2024. (AFP)
An Afghan man stands at the site of flash floods in the Pashah Qol of Baghlan province on May 19, 2024. (AFP)
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Renewed Flash Floods Due to Unusually Heavy Seasonal Rains Kill at Least 15 People in Afghanistan

An Afghan man stands at the site of flash floods in the Pashah Qol of Baghlan province on May 19, 2024. (AFP)
An Afghan man stands at the site of flash floods in the Pashah Qol of Baghlan province on May 19, 2024. (AFP)

Renewed heavy rains have triggered more flash floods in Afghanistan, killing at least 15 people, including 10 members of the same family in the northeast, officials said Sunday.

The unusually heavy seasonal rains have been wreaking havoc on multiple parts of the country, killing hundreds of people and destroying property and crops. The UN food agency warned that survivors were unable to make a living.

The floods Saturday night hit northeastern Badakhshan and northern Baghlan provinces, with the latter already having suffered the brunt of the rains earlier this month.

The family — a set of parents and their eight children — was reported dead in Faizabad, the capital of Badakhshan, said Mohammad Akram Akbari, director of the provincial natural disaster management department in the province, adding that rescue teams were only able to recover the mother’s body.

In Baghlan province, Edayatullah Hamdard, provincial director of Natural Disaster Management, said at least 40 houses were destroyed in Doshi district, and several people have died but was unable to provide further details.

However, a local official, speaking on condition of anonymity as he wasn't authorized to talk to the press, reported that five bodies have so far been found in the province and rescue teams were looking for more.

Earlier, the World Food Program said the exceptionally heavy rains in Afghanistan had killed more than 300 people and destroyed thousands of houses, mostly in the northern province of Baghlan on May 10 and May 11. Survivors have been left with no home, no land, and no source of livelihood, WFP said.

In the western province of Ghor, 50 people were reported dead due to floods on May 18.

On May 19, at least 84 people were killed in northern Faryab, and around 1,500 houses were either completely or partially destroyed while hundreds of hectares (acres) of farmlands.

The latest disaster came on the heels of devastating floods that killed at least 70 people in April. The waters also destroyed about 2,000 homes, three mosques and four schools in western Farah and Herat, and southern Zabul and Kandahar provinces.



World Falling behind on Environment, Health and Hunger Goals, UN Report Says

 A Palestinian boy watches his portion of food aid ahead of the upcoming Eid al-Adha holiday in Khan Younis, Saturday, June 15, 2024. (AP)
A Palestinian boy watches his portion of food aid ahead of the upcoming Eid al-Adha holiday in Khan Younis, Saturday, June 15, 2024. (AP)
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World Falling behind on Environment, Health and Hunger Goals, UN Report Says

 A Palestinian boy watches his portion of food aid ahead of the upcoming Eid al-Adha holiday in Khan Younis, Saturday, June 15, 2024. (AP)
A Palestinian boy watches his portion of food aid ahead of the upcoming Eid al-Adha holiday in Khan Younis, Saturday, June 15, 2024. (AP)

The world is way off track on most of the sustainable development targets agreed in 2015, such as tackling poverty and hunger, says a United Nations report which cites funding shortfalls, geopolitical tensions and the COVID-19 pandemic.

The UN's annual Sustainable Development Report ranks the performance of its 193 member states in implementing 17 wide-ranging "sustainable development goals" (SDGs), which also include improving access to education and health care, providing clean energy and protecting biodiversity.

It found that none of the 17 goals were on course to be met by 2030, with most targets showing "limited or a reversal of progress". It urged countries to address chronic funding shortfalls and also revamp the UN system itself.

"What this report is showing is that even before the pandemic hit, progress was already too slow," said Guillaume Lafortune, Vice President at the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) and lead author of the report.

"Once the pandemic hit, and other crises - including military conflicts - then it is a story of stagnation."

The report identified the tackling of hunger, the creation of sustainable cities and the protection of biodiversity on land and water as particular areas of weakness. Political goals like press freedom have also seen a "reversal of progress".

It said Finland, Sweden and Denmark ranked at the top of the list of countries, and China has also made faster than average progress, but the world's poorest countries have fallen further behind.

Lafortune said developing countries needed more access to international finance, adding that institutions like credit rating agencies should be encouraged to take a country's long-term environmental and economic wellbeing into consideration, rather than just its short-term liquidity.

The report also assessed countries on their willingness to cooperate globally through UN institutions. The United States was ranked in last place.

"A large majority of countries are supportive of collaborating... but there are a number of great powers that do not play by the rules of the game," said Lafortune.