Avalanches in Salang Tunnel on 8-9 February killed over 15 passengers and wounded dozens more, the government said. Photo: Masoud Popalzai/IRIN
KABUL, 9 February 2010 (IRIN) - Avalanches on a highway north of Kabul killed at least 15 and injured 55 on 8-9 February, according to the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH).
Passengers got trapped in their vehicles on either side of the Salang Tunnel, north of Kabul on 9 February. The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) sent two helicopters to help evacuate people and drop essential supplies, the Afghanistan National Disasters Management Authority (ANDMA) said.
"We are trying our best to evacuate about 700 people as soon as possible," Abdul Matin Edrak, ANDMA's director, told IRIN.
The MoPH said 25 ambulances and dozens of health workers had been sent to the scene, described by Ahmad Shah Wahid, deputy public works minister, as a "disaster".
"At least 40 injured have been taken hospital in Charikar City [Parwan Province]," Farid Raaid, MoPH's spokesman, told IRIN.
Avalanches and floods have also killed a number of people, destroyed houses and blocked roads in different parts of the country over the past few days.
Reports received by ANDMA indicate that flash floods and avalanches have left over 30 dead in Kandahar, Farah, Bamyan and Ghor provinces.
Pressure on food prices
Officials in Ghor Province, central-southern Afghanistan, said roads to almost all districts were closed by snow.
"Even the airport and roads to villages near the provincial capital are blocked," Golam Yahya Rasuli, provincial director of the Afghan Red Crescent Society (ARCS), told IRIN by phone on 9 February.
Similar situations have been reported in Badakhshan, Bamyan, Daykundi, Nooristan and Ghazni provinces.
"Road blockages have already prompted a sudden hike in food prices, making it difficult for most poor people to afford adequate food," Sayed Naser Hemat, ARCS director in Badakhshan Province, told IRIN.
The Public Works Ministry said efforts are under way to reopen roads.
Cold-related diseases
The MoPH has dispatched 100 mobile medical teams to 128 vulnerable districts in 28 of the country's 34 provinces since January to prevent a spread of pneumonia and influenza.
"These teams are treating patients and are monitoring and reporting on the situation," said Raaid.
Medical teams swiftly responded to outbreaks of flu and pneumonia in the Ragh District of Badakhshan Province where vulnerable individuals were vaccinated, he said.
An added worry is H1N1 influenza. Over the past few months, over 950 people have contracted the disease and 17 have died, according to MoPH. The H1N1 emergency is still officially on.
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