UNDP and the Committee of Emergency Situations and the Emergencies Committee of Tajikistan on October 14 opened a non-food items warehouse with emergency stockpile for cross-border emergency situations in Kushoniyon district, Khatlon province.
According to UNDP Tajikistan, the warehouse includes non-food items, such as tents, bedding, kitchen utensils, stoves, clothes, hygiene items and others to ensure adequate and timely assistance to cross-border emergency situations and cover primary needs of at least 100 families.
“The world is experiencing one of the most destructive and profound structural, social and economic shocks in recent history, including increased risk of extreme climate but also man-made crises such as the recent developments in Afghanistan. The government of Tajikistan is taking all steps for preparedness and response to any crisis and humanitarian needs of those affected by natural disasters and potential influx of refugees from Afghanistan,” UNDP Resident Representative in Tajikistan Pratibha Mehta says.
The warehouse, worth more than 3 million somonis, is the first of the two repositories built within UNDP’s Strengthening Disaster Risk Reduction and Response Capacities Project, funded by the Government of Japan, aiming to support the national strategy to strengthen cross-border emergency response cooperation between Tajikistan and Afghanistan. The second storage is under construction in Khorog, the Gorno Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO).
The design and location of the warehouses to be managed by the Emergencies Committee has been preliminarily planned in 2018 to provide easier access for emergency relief in remote and hard to reach areas near the border.
The project covers the following dimensions: conducting countrywide risk assessment and implementation DRR sub-projects, building capacity of Hydromet on early warning, integration of risk assessment results into local and urban planning, strengthening the capacity of national and regional SARs, cross border cooperation with Afghanistan on disaster response. The total funding of this project is US$11 million.
