DUSHANBE, April 25, Asia-Plus — Disasters that hit Tajikistan in January-March this year left four dead and caused 8.4 million worth of damage to the country’s economy, Mahmadtohir Zokirov, the head of the Committee for Emergency Situations (CES), announced at a news conference in Dushanbe today.
According to him, 24 emergency situations, including nine tremors, nine mudslides, three floods, two avalanches and one landslide, have been reported in the country over the report period. “Besides, 653 emergency situations of technogenious nature have been registered in the country over the same three-month period,” Zokirov said.
On the current situation in Vahdat, Tursunzoda and Rudaki districts, where some areas were recently hit by a series of mudslides, the CES head said rehabilitation operation and distribution of humanitarian aid among the disaster-affected people are going on.
He added that that “people are frequently to blame for being left homeless during the emergencies themselves.” “During my trips to the sites of disasters, I have seen that many people are building houses on the banks of the rivers or irrigation canals or willfully changing the course of the drainage canals, which is not allowed,” the CES head said.
Zokirov noted that under a plan for the resettlement of population from the areas at risk to safe places projected for 2005-2010, some 1,200 families are planned to be relocated this year alone. “84 families from Gorno Badakhshan, 205 from Sughd, 504 from Khatlon and 407 from districts subordinate to the center (RRPs) are expected to have been relocated to safe places this year,” he said.
