logo
At least 10 dead in Colombia landslide

At least 10 dead in Colombia landslide

Gulf Today25-06-2025
A landslide triggered by heavy rains killed at least 10 people and injured eight others Tuesday near the Colombian city of Medellin, government officials said.
Locals were warned to evacuate the area in the municipality of Bello, which remained vulnerable to landslides, the governor of the Antioquia department Andres Julian Rendon said while confirming the casualties.
At least 15 people were still missing after the tragedy, which was caused by flooding in a ravine, according to media reports.
Images shared by local media showed houses buried under earth on a mountain bordering Colombia's second-biggest city.
A picture shared by Medellin's disaster management department showed a car and a street caked in mud.
Other X users shared images and videos of flooded Bello streets.
Antioquia, which is situated in the western Colombian Andes, is often affected by landslides during the rainy season.
At least five people were killed in a landslide in another Medellin suburb, Sabaneta, last month.
Agence France-Presse
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Tajikistan's apricot farmers grapple with climate change
Tajikistan's apricot farmers grapple with climate change

Gulf Today

time16-07-2025

  • Gulf Today

Tajikistan's apricot farmers grapple with climate change

Bruno Kalouaz, Agence France-Presse Tajik apricot farmer Uktam Kuziev is worried about the future now that climate change is threatening Central Asia's vital fruit harvest. This is one of the world's most exposed regions to the effects of climate change and its poor, rural farming communities are particularly vulnerable. Kuziev is one of more than 100,000 people employed in Tajikistan's apricot industry, a historic occupation across the mountains and valleys in the north of the landlocked country. Ten percent of all the world's orchards are located here, according to United Nations data. But mild winters, melting glaciers, late frosts and water scarcity all pose challenges to cultivation in Tajikistan's apricot capital of Isfara. "Last year, some land turned desert-like due to lack of water and the soil cracked into pieces," Kuziev told AFP. "The apricot trees dried up because they weren't watered," the 72-year-old farmer said, standing in front of stubby apricot trees swaying in the wind. The fruit is "especially vulnerable" to climate change, according to the World Bank, due to "escalating temperatures, shifting precipitation patterns and increased frequency of extreme weather events". At street markets in Isfara, vendors sell buckets of fresh apricots next to piles of glistening red cherries, while on roadsides dried fruits are sold from giant sandbags. Tajikistan classifies the fruit as a "strategic product" with the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization. "Apricot cultivation in northern Tajikistan is very important economically and socially... It creates jobs and improves the standard of living of the population," Muminjon Makhmajonov, deputy director of Isfara Food, a major dried fruit producer, told AFP. So important is the furry orange fruit to the local economy that a giant monument to it has been erected in the middle of Isfara city. But chronic water shortages and shrinking levels in the Isfara river — shared by Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan — are disrupting both the industry and a way of life. "The effects of climate change and the melting of the glaciers are already being felt. In spring the water level in the Isfara river is low," Bakhtior Jalilov, the city's chief agriculture specialist, told AFP. Facing water shortages every spring, Kuziev has previously sacrificed wheat crops to "save the essentials — the apricot trees". A lack of water is not the only problem faced by farmers. Paradoxically, bouts of heavy rainfall are also an issue, causing the fruit to grow with thorns or spots on its skin, which reduces its market value. "We are sad when it rains a lot because it spoils the product," said Muborak Isoeva, 61, who sells apricots in the neighbouring village of Kulkand. Drastic temperature swings pose another problem. The devastation of Turkey's 2025 apricot harvest by cold weather has worried Tajikistan's farmers. "When the temperature rises or falls sharply, even for a day or two, you won't get the harvest you want," Makhmajonov said. He buys supplies in the markets around Isfara, where small-scale farmers sell apricots grown in their gardens to make a living. Whereas before locals had no idea of the concept of a late frost, "over the last 20 years, the trees have frozen over five or six times during or after blooming", city specialist Jalilov said. Producers and the local administration are trying to adapt. Orchards are being planted more intensively, while some 1,500 hectares of soil on low-yielding plots of land has been regenerated over the last five years. Some are switching to growing plums, more resilient to the changing climate. "Unlike apricots, plums bloom a little later and tolerate heat and cold better... so when the apricot harvest is poor, we can still export prunes," said Isfara Food's Makhmajonov. He has installed a water-efficient dip irrigation system to grow the sweet purple fruit. But not everybody has that option. Water fees were hiked 150 per cent last year — something Tajikistan said was necessary to improve infrastructure and balance usage from the river across the three countries. With an average national salary of just $260 a month, adaptation is both costly and complex for family farmers, who have for decades relied on the fruit to boost their incomes. "Regardless of their standard of living or social status, if they need money, they could go and sell them at the market," Makhmajonov said. Climate change is now making that safety net look increasingly fragile.

Fatigued Afghan taxi drivers take novel approach to AC
Fatigued Afghan taxi drivers take novel approach to AC

Gulf Today

time11-07-2025

  • Gulf Today

Fatigued Afghan taxi drivers take novel approach to AC

Broken air conditioning? Afghan taxi drivers have cobbled together a creative solution to spare them and their passengers from the sweltering heat. In Kandahar city in southern Afghanistan where temperatures easily exceed 40˚C (104 Fahrenheit), blue taxis can be spotted with an air conditioning unit strapped to the roof with an exhaust hose delivering the cool air through the passenger window. "It started getting extremely hot three or four years ago. These cars' AC systems didn't work, and repairs were too expensive. So I went to a technician, (and) had a custom cooler made," said driver Gul Mohammad. The 32-year-old spent 3,000 Afghanis ($43) for the system, which he connects to his taxi's battery and regularly refills with water. "This works better than (built-in) AC. ACs only cool the front — this cooler spreads air throughout," said fellow driver Abdul Bari. Other devices are connected to solar panels, also mounted on the taxi's roof. Afghanistan, one of the poorest countries in the world, is also one of the most vulnerable to the effects of climate change. It is particularly affected by heat waves and is suffering from increased drought. An Afghan woman boards a taxi with a swamp air-cooler system installed overhead in Kandahar on Thursday. Agence France-Presse Murtaza, a 21-year-old technician, said that demand from taxi drivers has been growing over the past two or three years. "Many cars weren't equipped with air conditioning anyway, which is why we're installing these," he told AFP in his small shop in central Kandahar. Afghan cities are often saturated with ageing vehicles, which are enjoying a last-ditch life after being transferred from neighbouring countries. "When there's no cooler, it becomes very difficult," said Norullah, a 19-year-old passenger who did not provide a last name, his face inches from the blast of cold air. "These drivers are helping solve the problem, and that's great." Agence France-Presse

Two dead in Spain fire as heatwave scorches Europe
Two dead in Spain fire as heatwave scorches Europe

Gulf Today

time02-07-2025

  • Gulf Today

Two dead in Spain fire as heatwave scorches Europe

Firefighters in Spain have said they found two bodies after a blaze in the northeast of the country, which is in the midst of a brutal heatwave. The heatwave across Europe this week broke high temperature records, caused the closure of schools and increased the risk of fire. Authorities in Spain's Catalonia region on Tuesday confined about 14,000 people to their homes due to two wildfires that broke out almost simultaneously in the province of Lerida. In one of the blazes, near the city of Cosco, "two people were found lifeless by firefighters", the fire and emergency service said in a statement. The exact cause of the fire was unclear, but the service said the recent heat, dry conditions and strong winds caused by storms had increased the intensity of the flames. Catalonia regional president Salvador Illa said he was "dismayed after learning of the death of two people as a result of the fire", in a post on X. People sit in the shade under a bridge over the River Seine in Paris during a heat wave in France on Monday. AFP Hours earlier, police in the region had reported the death of a two-year-old boy after he was left in a parked car in the sun for several hours. Spain is in the midst of an intense heatwave, with temperatures exceeding 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) in many places and several heat records set for the month of June. One person died in the southern city of Cordoba and another in Barcelona, both while doing road work on Saturday and likely victims of heatstroke. According to scientists, extreme weather events, such as heatwaves and storms, are becoming more intense due to man-made climate change. Tens of thousands of people have died in Europe during past heatwaves, prompting authorities to issue warnings for old and young, the sick, and others vulnerable to what experts call a "silent killer". Agence France-Presse

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store