DUSHANBE, May 12 (Reuters) - Unusually powerful mudslides have killed at least 18 people in the Central Asian republic of Tajikistan this month, the emergencies ministry said on Tuesday. Landslides happen every year in Tajikistan but they were stronger than usual this spring due to very heavy rainfall. That has added hardship to the mountainous nation of seven million already hit hard by the global economic downturn. The emergencies ministry said 18 people, including seven children, have died in separate landslides and avalanches over the last two weeks in the mainly Muslim former Soviet republic. Downpours of rain and melting snow often cause torrents of water, clay and rocks to cascade onto settlements in spring in the mountainous nation bordering Afghanistan. Last week, a powerful mudslide swept through the central streets of the Tajik capital Dushanbe, causing panic among some of its residents. No one died. (Reporting by Roman Kozhevnikov; Writing by Maria Golovnina; Editing by Matthew Jones)
Pedro Araujo, 8, flies a kite from his canoe on the flooded Rio Negro, a major tributary of the Amazon River in Manaus, May 11, 2009. Floodwaters inched closer to the ...
