UZBEKISTAN: Natural disaster risk high in south

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

KARSHI, 26 Apr 2005 (IRIN) - Many villages in mountainous areas of southern Uzbekistan face an increasing risk of natural disasters following a particularly harsh winter. Thousands of residents in several districts of the southern Uzbek province of Kashkadarya remain vulnerable to landslides and mudflows.

"Landslides and mudflows are a permanent problem here," Burkhan Turdyev, head of the provincial emergency department, told IRIN in the southern city of Karshi, capital of Kashkadarya province. "Usually this season begins in March and continues up to July. But this year the first landslide occurred on 17 February in Kamashin district, which we did not expect."

According to the provincial emergency unit, over 200,000 cu metres of earth and mud came down during the landslide and since that day about 20 villages in the Kamashin and Dekhkanabad districts have been cut off as the road linking them with the district centre remains buried under debris. Moreover, some witnesses have reported that deep cracks have appeared in some parts of the road.

"We have five districts, which are considered the most vulnerable in terms of landslides and mudflows," Turdyev maintained. "These are Kitabchik, Shakhrisyabz, Kamashin, Yakkabag and Dekhkanabad districts, which are located in the mountainous areas of the province."

Currently, around 65 families or almost 500 residents, had been forced to leave their homes and stay with their relatives or in public buildings, Turdyev added.

Imom Islamov, head of the Kamashin district administration, told IRIN that more than 20 mountain villages, with a population of over 10,000 people, were vulnerable to landslides and mudflows.

Around 60 landslides of 25,000 to 30,000 cu metres had been reported in the region over the past two months, Turdyev said, adding that 11 points had been established in various high-risk zones to monitor the situation on the ground.

However, some affected residents complained about an inadequate response from local authorities. Khait Kurbanov, a local farmer, told IRIN that they had to make a path using shovels and hoes so that they could walk to access the district centre.

"My village is located on the territory of Dekhkanabad district. It is 200 km away from the district centre and about 80 km away from Kamashi town. The authorities did not provide any help to us. We get to blocked places by car and then walk and get into another car. This way we can get to Kamashi," Kurbanov explained.

Still another issue was the problem of access to medical assistance. "When we need urgent medical aid, we do not know how to get a person to the nearest hospital," Kurbanov warned, adding that the nearest hospital was 80 km from the village.

Meanwhile, local authorities were cleaning up the debris or building bypass roads. "The machinery is being used on the ground to resolve the problem," Rakhmatulla Norbaev, deputy head of the Kamashin district administration, told IRIN.

The emergency official said it would be appropriate to resettle vulnerable communities, noting the natural disaster risk would continue every year and people should be moved from those areas. "District administrations provide them with temporary shelter and land plots for building new houses," Turdyev asserted.

But one resident of Dekhkanabad district, who did not want to be identified, told IRIN that people were finding it difficult to cope without the roads connecting them with the district centres.

"When the head of the provincial administration visited us, he promised to get the road up and running again by 18 March. But, as you see, they are not open," he said, adding that many other affected villages were yet to see any help.

"We have a report of the [local government] commission about the landslide risk in the area," Turdyev said. "According to the report, there is a high risk in some areas where many rural people live. We came to a conclusion that it is not possible to bring machinery to those places since landslides could recur there."

Moreover, emergency officials were concerned about the risk of mudflows, saying there were 10 rivers in Kashkadariya province, including Kashkadariya, Yakkabagdarya, Lyangardarya, Tankhazdarya Rivers, which could overrun their banks and affect local communities.

Central Asia, including Uzbekistan, is prone to various natural disasters, including earthquakes, landslides, floods, avalanches and drought, with Tajikistan being the most vulnerable. 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, according to the Humanitarian Aid Office of the European Commission (ECHO).

[ENDS]