Afghanistan has been witnessing, for the past twenty days, a severe cold snap that has caused the death of at least 166 people, according to an official at the Ministry of Disaster Management, on Saturday.
The official said 88 people died within a week, which brings the total toll so far to 166 deaths, based on data from 26 of the 34 states in the miserable country.
He explained in a video that the deaths resulted from floods, fires, and leakage in the gas heaters used to heat homes.
The temperature has dropped to minus 33 degrees in some parts of Afghanistan since January 10.
This severe cold is sometimes accompanied by snow or rain that causes ice, amid frequent power outages.
Humanitarian aid organizations had warned before the cold snap that more than half of the 38 million people were on the brink of starvation and that four million children were suffering from malnutrition.
The cold also led to the collapse or damage of about a hundred houses and the death of about eighty thousand heads of livestock, which is an essential resource in the extremely poor country.
On the other hand, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced this week the death of 17 people in a village in Badakhshan Province (northeast) due to "acute pneumonia".
The organization reported that "difficult weather conditions prevented relief teams from reaching the area."
Humanitarian aid declined sharply after the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan more than two years ago, following the withdrawal of US forces.
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