Muslims in Uzbekistan pray for rain amid severe drought

Muslims in Uzbekistan pray for rain amid severe drought
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Uzbek Muslims held mass prayers for rain Friday as the Central Asian country is experiencing severe droughts associated with climate change, France 24 reported.

The prayers were held in 2,000 mosques across the Muslim country of 35 million people.

For Tashkent, the largest city in Central Asia, this year’s drought has marked one of the harshest in 170 years, Uzbekistan’s Meteorological Agency said this month.

Over the past 60 years, temperatures in Uzbekistan have risen “nearly three times the global average, leading to more frequent droughts”, according to a United Nations report.

Climate change is speeding up the melting of glaciers, a key water source for the approximately 80 million inhabitants of Central Asia, a region comprising five former Soviet republics where economies and population are growing rapidly.

The UN and scientists have warned glaciers may disappear by the end of the century.

Increased levels of dust, widespread use of coal for heating and poor quality gasoline for vehicles have meanwhile made Uzbekistan one of the world’s most polluted countries.

Uzbek authorities say they have used rain-making technology, but it is expensive and far from being widely implemented.