DUSHANBE, October 9, 2008, Asia-Plus — Tajik aid convoy heads for southern Kyrgyzstan to support the earthquake-hit population in Kyrgyzstan’s Osh region.
According to presidential press service, a convoy of 27 trucks of the Committee for Emergency Situations (CES) loaded with humanitarian aid for quake-affected people today morning left for southern Kyrgyzstan via the Jirgatol district.
On October 7, President Emomali Rahmon signed an order obligating relevant ministries and organizations to organize and deliver the humanitarian aid to southern Kyrgyzstan at the earliest possible date.
The assistance includes building materials, food products and other relief supplies. By president’s order 100 cubic meters of saw timber, 2,000 zinc-coated sheets, 100 tons of cement, 100 pails, 100 kettles, 200 sets of clothes as well as 220 tons of flour, 5.2 tons of rice, 5 tons of vegetable oil, and 10 tons of sugar have been allocated from the state reserves, the press service said. Besides, 25 tons of diesel fuel have been allocated for delivering to Kyrgyzstan.
As it had been reported earlier, a major earthquake hit an area on the borders of Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and China on October 5 at around 8:52 local time, killing 74 and injuring some 150 other people in Kyrgyzstan’s southern Osh province. The 6.5-magnitude quake destroyed more than 100 buildings in the Osh province.
People throughout Central Asia, including Tajikistan, felt the quake. Officials in China”s Xinjiang-Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR) reported minor damage to houses, but no casualties were reported there.
