By KUNA
Kabul : At least 20 people were killed and scores of houses were damaged, while roads connecting remote districts and villages with cities were cut off due to heavy snowfall in many parts of Afghanistan.
According to officials in the Afghanistan Red Crescent Society (ARCS), eight members of a family were killed in the western province of Herat when the roof of their house collapsed under weight of the snow.
The majority of Afghans, living in areas other than big cities like Kabul, Mazar, Herat, Kandahar or Jalalabad, live in mud houses.
Even in the central Kabul, thousands of low income families live in slums and mud houses on the outskirts of the fortified city and often face danger during the winter weather, when excessive snow falls from December till the end March.
Chief of the ARCS in Herat province Nooruddin told KUNA over the telephone that the tragic incident, of people dying because of snow, happened on Monday.
However, the rescue teams could not get the news to reach on the spot due to difficulties caused by road closures.
Two more people were killed in avalanches while six shepherds living in a mountainous region also lost their lives due to the heavy snowfall, said the ARCS official.
He added that thousands of animals, including goats, sheep, and cows were also killed in avalanches and land sliding caused by the snowfall.
The districts mostly affected by the recent snowfall include Islam Qala, Gulran, Torghundai in Herat, as well as areas in Badghis and the remote Ghor province of the landlocked country, said officials.
Exact assessment of human and material losses in those areas could not be received due to the closure of communication links.