Afghanistan Landslide: Aid Groups Struggle to Help Desperate Survivors

Four days after a landslide swept through Aab Bareek, a village in the remote north-east Afghan province of Badakhshan, burying 300 houses, survivors are still searching through the mud for their relatives' remains.

Figures on the number of people killed and missing in the disaster vary. At least 350 people have been confirmed dead, while more than 2,000 people are thought to be missing.

Authorities are trying to help the 700 families displaced by the torrent of mud. Stranded and with no homes, some families have gone to nearby villages to stay with relatives or friends, while others have slept in tents provided by aid groups. The unlucky ones have slept outside.

"Some people left with almost nothing," Matt Graydon, spokesman for the International Organisation of Migration, said.

Mohammad Daim Kakar, from the Afghanistan Natural Disaster Management Authority acknowledged that aid had yet to reach some people but said their efforts were complicated by villagers from areas unaffected by the landslide also coming to claim the aid.