Afghanistan is one of the countries that suffer from lack of development and basic requirements of life. Millions in the country can hardly acquire basic necessities of life. Through most part of its modern history the country has been dominated by wars and conflicts. Little efforts have been made in improving the standard of living of the people. Most of the people live in remote areas of the country where marginal attentions have been focused.

The last decade has been fortunate for the country to a certain extent but gigantic efforts have to be made so as to enable the common people to have the rudimentary requirements without tiring efforts. Unfortunately the government in this regard has not shouldered the responsibility of governing the country with full devotion and dedication; rather it has been involved in corruption and incapability.

As the country is an underdeveloped country and there is lack of basic requirements and resources, even minor misfortunes may turn into nightmares for the common people of the country. Whenever, there are instances of natural disasters and catastrophes, they, in fact, have their influences more than they should really have. An earthquake, for example, if unfortunately hits a country; the lack of facilities to fight with the challenges of the accident may cause a great loss before the situation is handled appropriately.

Or any other disaster, even smaller in intensity and scale, may confuse the government authorities how to deal with the situation or it is also possible that they may never come to know about it or may not have anything to offer accept negligence. Thus, it can be said without much doubt that the authorities are not ready to deal with the difficult situations appropriately or they have not paid attention to the issue as per its requirement.

Currently, a major portion of the country is going through severe wave of cold weather. Many areas in the country, including central and northern Afghanistan as the most dominant ones, have extremely cold weather in winters.

Most of the areas get completely covered with snow and the temperature may even reach to -15 degree centigrade. The roads get blocked, the vehicles are unable to move and the people get stuck in their houses, which are mostly located in rocky mountains - far away from markets and cities.

Moreover, as most of the families in such areas live below the poverty line they can not arrange to have enough storage of food to keep them healthy. Therefore, they have to suffer throughout the winters. Unavailability of fuel to have fire or enough wood to burn so as to keep themselves warm in such shivering cold add fuel to the fire.

It is very likely that old people and children who are very much sensitive to the changes in weather get easily sick. Their troubles are multiplied when they find no availability of basic health facilities to help them get rid of diseases.

Health units in such areas are almost non-existent and most of the patients are treated through domestic ways of treatment which are basically based on false diagnosis and medication. It has been observed that many of the families use drugs for their patients, even children, which serve as tranquilizer and help them get rid of pain temporarily but in fact make them patients for the rest of their lives.

Last week there was sever snowfall in many parts of the country and there are possibilities of further snowfall. The last week's snowfall was able to hit the country's northeastern parts severely. Severe snowfall and avalanches took the lives of more than 16 people and many more have been trapped in the snow, unable to come out of their shaky houses.

The remote Badakhshan province, in this regard, has suffered to a great extent so far. Unfortunately, the lack of proper emergency arrangements and severe snow has made the rescue difficult. Provincial spokesperson, Abdul Mahroof Rasikh has mentioned, "So far 16 people have been killed as a result of heavy snow and avalanches in at least six districts of Badakhshan." The reports also reveal that twelve districts are still out of reach for the rescue teams. Having a look at the situation and lack of facilities it is quite possible that the number of deaths may, unfortunately, rise.

The deaths because of severe cold and avalanches are not rare in Afghanistan. In 2010 about 150 people became the unfortunate victims of avalanches in the Salang pass. It was not that only weather can be blamed for the misfortunate incident; rather the lack of emergency arrangements also played a role in the increased number of deaths.

It is clearly understood by the government authorities that many parts of the country have to suffer the severe consequences of cold weather, therefore arrangement have to be made in order to deal with such situations but the authorities in our country come to action only after the incident occurs and the losses are incurred. If there are measures planned and carried out before the worst situation, it is very likely that some, if not all, of valuable lives can be saved.

The government authorities also have to take serious steps in improving the standard of living of the people and give development works great importance. If people are provided the basic requirements of life easily, they will be able to fight with the natural catastrophes without much difficulty.

Unfortunately, the development works have been completely neglected by the present government authorities. A current report depicts that the authorities have not been able to use even half of the development budget, which in its full size happens to be only $ 2 billion – much less than what is actually required for an underdeveloped country like Afghanistan.

The fiscal year is going to end within a couple of months and there are no evident ways through which they would be able to make use of the much needed funds. In fact, billion of dollars have been utilized in Afghanistan but only a meager part has reached to the poor and deserving masses – the ones who suffer the consequences of all sort of disorder, conflict, wars and disasters.

Most of the money has, in fact, gone to the pockets of corruption and to quench the thirst for money and ever growing greed. The ruling class has really blocked the flow of money to the development of lives of common people and wastes it for the ostentatious display of its false grandeur, which can not last for long unless we have a stable country with better living standards.