The Committee of Emergency Situations and Civil Defense under the Government of Tajikistan has signed a contract for the supply, installation, and commissioning of equipment and facilities to upgrade monitoring and early warning system for Lake Sarez in the Gorno Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO).
The contract is part of the National Disaster Risk Management Project financed by a $10 million grant from the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
According to the ADB Tajikistan Resident Mission (TJRM), the $750,000 contract is signed with the Kazakh company KS-Group Limited Liability Partnership selected through ADB’s open competitive bidding process.
The new monitoring and early warning equipment and facilities include GPS units, strong motion accelerometers, submersible pressure sensors, drone, radios, satellite phones, auto weather station, hydrological stations, hydrometric stations, and others.
The supplier will also provide training on how to operate the new equipment and facilities, which are expected to be commissioned in July 2021.
Lake Sarez was formed in 1911 by a strong earthquake that triggered a massive landslide and blocked the Murgab River. The lake is over 60 kilometers long and as deep as 500 meters and holds an estimated 17 cubic kilometers of water. The area experiences considerable seismic activity, which requires close monitoring of the lake.
ADB approved the Disaster Risk Management Project in September 2018 to help Tajikistan prepare and respond to natural hazards and climate change and reduce the impact of disasters on the people. The Committee of Emergency Situations and Civil Defense is the project’s executing agency.
