Kabul: A statistics revealed by the Ministry for Disaster Management has shown at least 78 people have died from extreme cold exposure across the country over the past nine days.

“The ministry in collaboration with other governmental institutions has provided food and cash aid to at least one mill people,” Shafiullah Rahimi, a spokesman for the ministry, told Tolo News.

A number of vulnerable families said the drop in temperature has created many problems for them.

Shila, a Kabul resident and mother of 10 children, told Tolo News she could not afford to buy firewood for winter to heat their homes,

“We even don’t have a heater in our home,” said Shila.

“We just have one blanket and all of us sleep under it,” said Ahmad, a member of a vulnerable family in Kabul.

The Meteorology Department said the temperature this year has fallen unprecedentedly. The temperature in Ghor province in the west of Afghanistan is 34 degrees below zero, which is the coldest area in the country.

“The cold wave has affected the whole country and will continue until next week,”Mohammad Jumma Nawroz, head of the department, told the news agency.