No fewer than 13 people reportedly lost their lives due to heavy rains in central Tajikistan on Sunday.
The latest natural disaster to hit the mountainous Central Asian country resulted in deaths that occurred in areas just south and east of the capital Dushanbe, where storms caused “mudslides, falling rocks, and landslides” in around a dozen districts, a spokeswoman for the country’s emergencies ministry told journalists.
According to the spokeswoman, “because of the heavy rains, a natural catastrophe happened yesterday and caused the deaths of 13 people, including 11 in Vahdat and two in Rudaki district.
Tajikistan, the poorest of the Central Asian ex-Soviet republics, is susceptible to natural disasters.
Hundreds of avalanches, landslides, and rockfalls rocked Upper Badakhshan in February, an autonomous territory in the south bordering Afghanistan, China, and Kyrgyzstan and ringed by the Pamir Mountains.
