Four killed by flash flood in northern Afghanistan.

Four people have died and many more were made homeless in a flash flood that hit the village of Tala-o-Barfak in Baghlan Province in northern Afghanistan on Saturday 2 May 2020. The flood was one of a number of similar events that have hit Baghlan and Samangan provinces following heavy rainfall in the area over the past few days, sweeping away buildings and livestock and making many people homeless.

The approximate location of the 2 May 2020 Tala-o-Barfak flash flood. Google Maps.

Flash floods and landslides are a frequent problem in northern Afghanistan, where a mostly dry climate is broken by occasional bouts of heavy rainfall. The dry nature of the climate means that little of the landscape is covered by extensive vegetation (which can stabilise hillsides with root-growth), making the area vulnerable to flash floods. This situation is made worse by the widespread use of dried mud bricks as a building material, resulting in buildings that offer little protection against flooding and are easily swept away. 

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Collapse at coal mine kills five in Afghanistan.

Five miners have died and another one is missing following a collapse at a coal mine at Dahan-e-Tor, in the Dara-e-Soof District of Samagan Province, Afghanistan, on Tuesday 26 December 2017. Several other miners were injured in the event, which was reportedly caused by a methane explosion, which caused a section of tunnel to collapse. The mine is reported to have been an illegal (unlicensed) mine, one of many such mines operated local artisanal miners in the impoverished region.

The approximate location of the Dahan-e-Tor mine. Google Maps.

Coal is formed when buried organic material, principally wood, in heated and pressurised, forcing off hydrogen and oxygen (i.e. water) and leaving more-or-less pure carbon. Methane is formed by the decay of organic material within the coal. There is typically little pore-space within coal, but the methane can be trapped in a liquid form under pressure. Some countries have started to extract this gas as a fuel in its own right. When this pressure is released suddenly, as by mining activity, then the methane turns back to a gas, expanding rapidly causing, an explosion. This is a bit like the pressure being released on a carbonated drink; the term 'explosion' does not necessarily imply fire in this context, although as methane is flammable this is quite likely.

Afghanistan has considerable reserves of coal, iron ore, copper and other minerals, which it has hoped to use to attract foreign investment. However frequent attacks on mining projects by militant groups opposed to foreign involvement in the country has kept investors away, with China pulling out of a US$3 billion copper mining project in Logar Province in the east of the country in 2012. As a result safety standards at Afghan mines tend to be virtually non-existent, with the nation lacking the money to invest in projects that it runs, and many smaller artisanal mines being totally unregulated, and often employing child labour. 

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Twenty seven killed in Afghan mine collapse.

Twenty seven miners have died following a collapse triggered by a gas explosion at the state-run Abkhorak Coal Mine in Samangan Province in northern Afghanistan on Saturday 14 September 2013. Rescue attempts were hampered by secondary collapses and gas in the mine, with four rescuers being critically injured and fourteen overcome by gas during the rescue operation. Over a hundred miners were taken to hospital following the event, twenty of whom have been described as 'injured' and four as 'critically injured'. Twenty four bodies have been recovered from the mine, and there are no hopes for the survival of the remaining miners, who are believed to be buried under rubble.

Afghan coal miners. Press TV.

Afghanistan has considerable reserves of coal, iron ore, copper and other minerals, which it has hoped to use to attract foreign investment. However frequent attacks on mining projects by militant groups opposed to foreign involvement in the country has kept investors away, with China pulling out of a US$3 billion copper mining project in Logar Province in the east of the country in 2012.

As a result safety standards at Afghan mines tend to be virtually non-existent, with the nation lacking the money to invest in projects that it runs, and many smaller artisanal mines being totally unregulated, and often employing child labour.

The approximate location of the Abkhorak Coal Mine. Google Maps.

See also Executive faces prison over West Virginia's Upper Branch Mine Disaster, Protests over environmental problems at Indian-owned Mozambique coal mine, Oil spill feared after ship sinks of South African coast, At least seven people dead following spoil heap collapse at coal mine in Sundargarh, Odisha State, India and Six killed by Yunnan landslide.

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