The wave of natural calamities hitting Tajikistan is expanding and growing deadly, with at least three people reported killed on July 21 following a landslide in the Vanj district in the Pamirs.

Asia-Plus news website has reported that another three people are still missing. 

Nilufar Aslamshoev, the press secretary for the head of the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region, told Asia-Plus that a landslide buried a Hyundai Starex van in the Vodhud municipality, killing three passengers onboard. Two passengers cannot be located.

Aslamshoev said that a torrential flood in the village of Lugad, in the same area, washed away an earthmover and two trucks. The driver of one of the trucks has gone missing, she said.

The Pamirs are not the only region affected.

CA-News has cited unnamed rescue officials as saying more than sixty homes have been either partially or totally destroyed in the Rasht region, which lies around 200 east of the capital, Dushanbe. One person, a 28-year old with disabilities, was reportedly killed in the Rasht region.

The spate of landslides and floods scourging Tajikistan are the result of intense heat in recent days, which have led to an unusually rapid snowmelt.

Along with homes, the floods have also destroyed schools, shops, crops, roads and power lines. A United Nations Rapid Emergency Assessment and Coordination Team estimates that more than 80 percent of communities in the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region has been left without power as a result of damage to infrastructure.

Authorities in Tajikistan appear ill-equipped to deal with the scale of the disaster unfolding and have reached out to the international community for aid.

Prime Minister Kohir Rasulzoda met with diplomats and representatives of international organizations on Monday to debrief them on the scale of the damage. 

According to preliminary estimates, the destruction has also cost the country’s economy more than $50 million.