TAJIKISTAN: Rock fall kills six in Nurobod district

[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

ANKARA, 19 Nov 2004 (IRIN) - Falling rocks and stones killed six local residents in the central Tajik district of Nurobod and seriously injured another inhabitant, an emergency official told IRIN on Friday.

"There was a rock fall in Nurobod district's mountainous area on Wednesday and a car was knocked from the road onto the nearby River Vakhsh. There were seven people in the car, of whom six drowned and one managed to make his way out, but his health condition remains serious," Nazokatsho Sayorabekov from the Tajik emergency ministry's press centre said from the capital, Dushanbe.

"Three bodies have been found and the search operation is still under way to recover the other three bodies," he added.

According to the Tajik emergency ministry, landslides and rock falls are quite common in the area, which is very mountainous. Before and after the incident minor earthquakes were registered, which could have moved the rocks, the emergency official maintained.

Tajikistan is prone to many natural disasters, including landslides, avalanches, floods and earthquakes. According to the World Bank, each year the mountainous Central Asian state experiences around 50,000 landslides, some 5,000 tremors and earthquakes, and hundreds of avalanches and debris flows. These natural disasters exacerbate poverty and hinder economic progress in the country, which is the poorest of the former Soviet republics, with some 65 percent of the population living below the national poverty line.

According to the European Commission Humanitarian Aid Office (ECHO), natural disasters have killed about 2,500 people and affected some 5.5 million (almost 10 percent of the total population) in Central Asia over the past decade.

[ENDS]