Regional latest additions

Central Asian city representatives discussed disaster risk management and preparedness with Greater Manchester authorities, including lessons learnt from dealing with emergencies experienced by the British city such as severe winter weather and floods.

While the World Bank has helped countries like Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan with developing disaster risk financing strategies and catastrophe insurance pools, climate change knows no borders and disaster costs can overwhelm a country.

Tajikistan’s southern Khatlon region, bordering Afghanistan, is the country’s populated and poorest region. It is home to two major rivers, the Panj and Vakhsh, and their multiple tributaries, making the region vulnerable to seasonal floods and mudflows.

For the last few years, farmers in remote villages of Ayni district in Tajikistan incurred huge losses as the irrigation canals get damaged due to climate change-induced events like rapid snowmelt and excessive rainfall.

The $50 million grant focuses on increasing the resilience of key infrastructure and strengthening local capacity.

As the temperatures were forecast to be below the trigger levels, a test simulation of anticipatory actions was conducted to support the rural communities expected to experience the most serious impacts from this extreme cold wave.