Talk:2014 Badakhshan mudslides

Location of Hobo Barik? Transliteration?
I can't find much on this place. There are a couple other similar places with articles, but wrong province (Āb Bārīk and Ab-e Barik-e Qowdi). Should we be using a transliteration like "Aab Barik" (as at least one source has it, and it was listed as an alternate name before), since it's closer to existing articles?

Searching on, I found "Ūtranch-e Āb-e Bārīk" as a close-ish name in the right province. This may be an inactive Facebook page:. There's also Ao Barik, which is in the right province and could be the same Hobo Barik. Googled with a limit of May 1, but that didn't produce much but articles with the wrong dates. Any better ideas on where this place actually is? ToBk (talk) 20:07, 2 May 2014 (UTC)
 * The majority of refs refer to it as Hobo, which is why I changed it to that, but the place name had me stumpted as well (not on Google maps or the like, but googling it gets news on the mudslide). Thanks, Mat  ty  .  007  20:12, 2 May 2014 (UTC)
 * Hmm, there's even a disambiguation page Ab Barik with a bunch of them, so that suggests to me that we use "Aab Barik", but maybe we should be using the most common name. Most are using "Hobo Barik", but plenty (Guardian, WSJ, LA Times) are using Aab Barik. Manual of Style/Persian claims to be inactive. Actually, NatGeo: says "Hargu" is also being used. BBC is now using "Hargu" as well:, and doesn't mention Hobo/Aab Barikat all in that one. I'm going to change it to what NatGeo says about both "Aab Barik" and "Hargu" being used. ToBk (talk) 21:30, 2 May 2014 (UTC)

Found it! (and here's one that shows that zoomed out a bit more: ). I don't have time to poke around more, but maybe someone can create a map and add coordinates based on that. Need further info to create an article, though. ToBk (talk) 19:08, 3 May 2014 (UTC)

Co-ordinates?
Can somebody please update the page with the co-ordinates? --The Count of Tuscany''' (TALK) 16:55, 3 May 2014 (UTC)
 * Not unless we get a source saying where the place is. We have about three different names for the village, but I suspect something concrete will arise soon. The reason there are no co-ordinates is because no-one here is entirely sure where it is. Thanks, Mat  ty  .  007  18:34, 3 May 2014 (UTC)
 * found them, thank you to him. Thanks, Mat  ty  .  007  19:06, 3 May 2014 (UTC)
 * I believe those coordinates are incorrect. From, "Abe Barak" (the thing in the red circle) is about 50km WSW of Fayzabad. The location added was about 15km SW of Fayzabad, which I believe is Ao Barik. On the reliefweb map, there's an "Ab Barak" just to the southwest of the big "Argo District" text, about 20km SW of Fayzabad. I think that's the same Ao Barik as our article, and matching the coordinates that were added. We want the one in the red circle instead. (Edit: That kinda ignores "Hargu" though, which may or may not be the same place or a neighboring place. Could "Hargu" be a corruption of "Argo"? Maybe I'm too picky; the center of Argo District is better than nothing.) ToBk (talk) 19:16, 3 May 2014 (UTC)
 * I was going off the BBC map here. Abductive  (reasoning) 08:42, 4 May 2014 (UTC)
 * And it turns out I was correct. Abductive  (reasoning) 23:12, 5 May 2014 (UTC)

Likely better map location
Reliefweb, with European Commision map 205.175.124.135 (talk) 20:37, 5 May 2014 (UTC)


 * Indeed, by comparing satellite images to the photos here: this appears to pinpoint the exact spot: 37.01289°N, 70.36038°W which you can even see has an existing landslide scar. 205.175.124.135 (talk) 21:00, 5 May 2014 (UTC)


 * definitive source: 205.175.124.135 (talk) 21:35, 5 May 2014 (UTC)


 * Thanks you IP. These are the coordinates I had put in the article two days ago. I have restored them to the article. Abductive  (reasoning) 23:24, 5 May 2014 (UTC)

Death toll
It's five years later and the death toll numbers this article states are
 * 350, with 2500 missing (initial reports)
 * 2100 (Badakhshan government officials in the days following)
 * 500 at most (deputy governor of Badakhshan in the days following)
 * 350 confirmed dead (UN in the days following)

All of these appear to be estimates that were made within a day or two of the disaster. Can someone find a reliable source with a confirmed total? I found a handful of later claims that don't cite Wikipedia as the source:


 * This PDF chart from the UAE government gives a precise-sounding total of 581 for two Afghanistan landslides from April to June, but it doesn't in turn cite a source.
 * This PDF chart from the UN's OCHA claims that 277 people were killed or injured by natural disasters in all of Badakhshan in all of 2014, and I can't find underlying sources. Seems easily contradicted by all the Humanitarian Bulletins:
 * The OCHA "Humanitarian Bulletin Afghanistan" covering 01-30 April 2014 discusses the May 2 mudslide and has a photo, but has no details (unusual for this bulletin). The 01-31 May 2014 edition does not mention the mudslide, focusing instead on flash floods.

On Sober Reflection (talk) 16:16, 1 May 2019 (UTC)