Years of insecurity have hampered development in Afghanistan, a country that is extremely vulnerable to hydrometeorological hazards. In the period from 1980 to 2015, the country lost nearly 15 000 lives in weather, climate and water related events. The International Disaster Database Centre for research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED) reports that 4 615 of these were due to flash floods and floods, which cost the country an estimated US$ 396 million in economic losses. Associated landslides and avalanches are also a major problem.
