DUSHANBE, July 12, Asia-Plus — “Work on the project on natural disaster prevention on the Panj River is designed for three years,” Deputy Emergencies Minister, Abdurrahim Rajabov, remarked at a news conference Wednesday following an international two-day seminar formally titled “Management of Emergencies in Case of Flooding” that was held in Dushanbe on July 11-12.
He stressed that for the purpose of getting the best results it was planned to organize satellite observation. “We want to prepare a high-quality project to provide adequate response to floods on the Panj River,” Mr. Rajabov said.
Mr. Toshiki Kavakami, the head of JICA (Japan’s International Cooperation Agency) Study Team for the Project on Natural Disaster Prevention on the Panj River, commenting on the project noted that carrying out of a complete analysis of the situation required long and laborious work and therefore it was still premature to say about an amount of necessary investments. He also noted that the principle Project’s objective was the development study aimed to strengthen safety and preparedness level, and to mitigate flood consequences and damages in the Hamadoni district of Khatlon, the Study area.
For his part, Abdurrahim Rajabov noted that they were also taking other measures to strengthen safety and preparedness level. “They, in particular, work out proposals on evacuation of the population as well as issues of monitoring and early warning system,” the deputy emergencies minister said.
Asked about the possibility of carrying out work on the contiguous bank of the Panj River, Mr. Toshiki Kavakami said that the conducted surveys concerned both banks of the river. “However, we cannot carry out any concrete works on the other bank, because it is already political issue, and we are just engaged in carrying out surveys and preparing recommendations,” the JICA Study Team head said.
The Project on Natural Disaster Prevention on the Panj River is set to cover 140 thousand people, living in the Hamadoni district, which dramatically suffered from continuous rainfalls, landslides and floods in 2004-2005. Study Team is involved in formulation of Master Plan for flood disaster prevention in the Study Area, covering Panj River in Hamadoni and includes flood control plan, flood fighting plan and flood forecasting, warning and evacuation plan as mid and long term solutions. The Study period is scheduled for near 22 months, and Inception stage was originated in March. It is planned to collect required data and conduct technical analysis from April up to end of December, 2006. The last one will be held with utilization of latest methods and technologies, like Flooding and Satellite Image Analysis, Runoff Analysis on Snow Melting, Hazard/Risk Mapping and GIS database.
