QURGHON TEPPA/DUSHANBE, May 15, 2009, Asia-Plus — According to the adjusted data provided by the Committee for Emergency Situations (CES), powerful mudslides caused by heavy rainfalls yesterday damaged some 200 residential buildings in three villages of the Ayni jamoat in Khatlon’s Khuroson district – Partsyezdi Bolo, Partsyezdi Poyon and Uyali.
The CES source added that it was still difficult to assess actual damage caused by the disaster to the houses because major part of the villages is currently covered by mass of slurry.
District hospital # 2 located in the settlement of Uyali was seriously damaged by the powerful mudslide and it currently does not work. All patients from this hospital have been evacuated to Qurghon Teppa and the central district hospital in the administrative center of Khuroson. A temporary camp for the mudslide-affected people has been set up.
The source noted that mudslides had hit a number of other districts in Khatlon as well. Thus, seven residential buildings were damaged in the village of Pakhtakor in the Jilikul district; four of them were destroyed completely. Mudslides also demolished 50 hectares of cotton fields in the Panj district, damaged the section of the road Qurghon Teppa-Panj near the village of Somoni and partially damaged eight residential buildings in the Qumsangir district.
No casualties were reported, according to the source.
A special commission, comprising senior representatives from local authorities and emergency management agency, is currently working at the mudslide site in Khuroson to provide assistance to the disaster-hit population and assess the actual volume of damage caused to the district by heavy rainfalls and mudslides.
It is not the first powerful mudslide in the Ayni jamoat this year. We will recall that torrential rain on April 21-22 caused mudslides that hit two villages in the jamoat. 22 houses were destroyed completely and 65 other houses were damaged partially.
Referring to the Committee for Emergency Situations (CES), some media report that unusually powerful mudslides have killed 18 people in Tajikistan this month.
Landslides happen every year in Tajikistan, but they were stronger than usual this spring due to very heavy rainfall.
