Flash floods triggered by torrential rains have killed at least 172 people across Yemen over the past month, damaging homes and UNESCO-listed world heritage sites, officials said.

The destruction has dealt a new blow to a country already in the grips of what the United Nations describes as the world's worst humanitarian crisis after years of war between a Saudi-backed government and Iran-allied rebels.

In the mainly government-held province of Maarib east of the capital, 19 children were among 30 people killed by the floods, a government official said.

In the province's displaced persons camps, 1,340 families saw their tents and belongings swept away, the agency in charge of them said.

In Lahij province in the government-held south, seven people were drowned when their vehicle was swept downstream, a government official told AFP.

Another four people were killed on the road connecting the southern provinces of Hadramawt and Shabwa, the official added.

In the rebel-held north, the floods killed 131 people and injured 124 between mid-July and August 7, the rebel health ministry said.

They destroyed 106 homes and buildings and heavily damaged another 156, the rebel ministry added.

UNESCO expressed sadness at the flood damage to historic buildings in the cities of Sanaa, Zabid and Shibam that are on its world heritage list.

6.0 magnitude quake strikes off Tanzania: USGS
Nairobi (AFP) Aug 12, 2020 - A shallow 6.0 magnitude earthquake struck southeast of the Tanzanian financial centre of Dar es Salaam late Wednesday, the US Geological Survey (USGS) said.

The offshore quake struck at a depth of 15.5 kilometres (9.6 miles) just after 8 pm (1700 GMT) local time. The epicentre was 66 kilometres southeast of Vikindu, USGS said.

Vikindu is just outside Dar es Salaam.

There were no immediate reports of damage, but the tremor was felt as far away as Nairobi in neighbouring Kenya.

Deep quakes tend to cause less shaking than shallower ones, which have far more potential for destruction.

Quakes are rare in East Africa.

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Eleven from one family drown in flash flood in Panama
Panama City (AFP) Aug 10, 2020
Eleven people from one family died Sunday in Panama when their home was swept away in a flash flood as they slept, officials said. Nine of them were minors, said Carlos Rumbo, head of the national civil protection service. Two other people are missing in the sudden rise of the Bejuco River in Veraguas province west of Panama City. President Laurentino Cortizo expressed his condolences on Twitter. The civil protection service had warned Sunday of heavy storms with lightning and gusting w ... read more