Extreme Cold Kills Over 160 People in Afghanistan As Country Faces Severest Winter In 15 Years

Over 160 people have died due to the bitter winter, temperature has slip to as low as minus 34 degrees Celsius after 15 years.

New Delhi: More than 160 people have died across Afghanistan this month in the worst winter in more than a decade, authorities said.

“162 people have died due to cold weather since January 10 until now,” said Shafiullah Rahimi, a spokesperson for the Minister of Disaster Management. Adding that in the last week alone, around 84 people lost their lives.

The cold has also killed thousands of livestock. Rahimi stated that over 75,000 livestock has died from the chill.

Temperatures slipped to as low as minus 34 degrees Celsius after 15 years, when the country is going through a severe economic crisis, and they are unable to even afford fuel to heat their homes. 

Several aid groups have been partially suspended in recent weeks, after a Taliban administration ruling that most female NGO workers could not work, leaving agencies unable to operate in the country.

In Pics: Afghanistan Sees 'Coldest Winter' In Years, Minimal Humanitarian Aid Affects Normal Life.

During a visit to Kabul this week, UN aid chief Martin Griffiths said the world body was seeking exemptions to the ban on most female aid workers that was coming at one of the most vulnerable times for many Afghans.

 “The Afghan winter … as everybody in Afghanistan knows is the big messenger of doom for so many families in Afghanistan as we go through these many years of humanitarian need … we see some of the consequences in loss of life,” Griffiths told Reuters.

Unable to afford wood or coal, children have been seen rummaging through garbage in a snowy field looking for plastic to burn and help their families, the agency reported.

Ashour Ali, a 30-year-old shopkeeper, lives in a basement with his five children. “This year, the weather is extremely cold and we couldn’t buy coal for ourselves”, he told Reuters.

“The children wake up from the cold and cry at night until the morning. They are all sick. So far, we have not received any help and we do not have enough bread to eat most of the time”, he added.