UN To Send Aid To Flood-Hit Afghan Province

20 June 2005 (RFE/RL) -- The United Nations' emergency food aid agency says it will provide some 88 tons of food to people in areas of Afghanistan's northeastern province of Badakshan that were hit by heavy flooding last week.

The UN's World Food Program (WFP) says the food aid will include wheat, oil, salt, and pulses and be provided to nearly 9,000 people.

The floods and hailstorms in Badakshan Province last week killed an estimated 29 people, injured 40 others and destroyed over 1,000 homes.

WFP's Afghanistan representative Charles Vincent said in a statement on 20 June that Badakhshan is one of the most remote and poverty stricken provinces in Afghanistan. The statement said floods will have a devastating effect on people who already live with a great deal of food insecurity.

(Reuters)