Kabul: Afghan officials have confirmed the death of more than 2,100 people, giving up hope on Saturday of finding any survivors from a landslide in the remote northeast. The aid effort will now focus on more than 4,000 people displaced.
Villagers and a few dozen police, equipped with only basic digging tools, resumed their search when daylight broke, but it soon became clear there was no hope of finding survivors buried in up to 100 metres of mud. “More than 2,100 people from 300 families are all dead,” said Naweed Forotan, a spokesman for the Badakhshan provincial governor.
Triggered by heavy rain, the side of a mountain collapsed into the village in Argo district Friday morning (AEST) as people were trying to recover their belongings and livestock after a smaller landslip hit their homes a few hours earlier.
Villagers dug with their bare hands to try to find survivors under the mountain of mud, but officials said there was little hope of finding anyone alive given the scale of the disaster. Rescue efforts have been hampered by difficult conditions due to a week of heavy rain.
Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai ordered Afghan officials to start emergency relief efforts immediately to reach the poor village. A UN representative in Kabul said roads to the village were open but passage was not suitable for heavy machinery.
Mark Bowden, the UN humanitarian coordinator in Afghanistan, said it may be some time yet until a clear picture of the full extent of the damage is known. NATO-led coalition troops in the region were discussing search and rescue contributions with Afghan forces, the UN said.
President Barack Obama said, “Just as the US stood with the people of Afghanistan through a difficult decade, we stand ready to help our Afghan partners as they respond to this disaster, for even as our war there comes to an end this year, our commitment to Afghanistan and its people will endureâ€.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said, “The people of India stand with their Afghan friends in grieving for those who have perished or are missing. Our thoughts and prayers are with them in this hour of pain and sorrowâ€.