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Russia to send urgent humanitarian aid to Tajikistan

Russia on Tuesday will send emergency humanitarian aid worth in excess of 100 million roubles to Tajikistan that has been affected by a natural calamity
Photo ITAR-TASS
Photo ITAR-TASS

DUSHANBE, April 3 (Itar-Tass) — Russia on Tuesday will send emergency humanitarian aid worth in excess of 100 million roubles to Tajikistan that has been affected by a natural calamity. The humanitarian supplies will be delivered on cargo aircraft of the RF Emergency Situations Ministry (EMERCOM) in an operation that will end on April 5, the republic government’s sources told Itar-Tass.

The humanitarian relief includes tents, mobile power stations, heating appliances and foodstuffs. The total weight of the humanitarian cargo is about 200 tonnes.

A government official told Itar-Tass that President of Tajikistan Emomali Rakhmon requested urgent aid from Russia. On March 30, he held a telephone conversation with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. On the same day, RF President Dmitry Medvedev instructed the Russian government to provide emergency aid to Tajikistan “to overcome the effects of abnormal weather conditions in winter.”

“Tajikistan for the first time over the past 50 years this winter and the following March was hit by anomalous Siberian frosts and heavy snowfalls that inflicted damage worth more than one billion US dollars on the republic,” the source told Itar-Tass reported. According to him, “hundreds of hectares of gardens were winterkilled, the places of many highland camps of shepherds were cut off from the “mainland,” thousands of animals died because of the lack of fodder. The natural calamity affected the population of dozens of mountain villages and social facilities.

Tajikistan’s weather forecasters have predicted that the weather in April-May will also be adverse, warning of the coming floods and mudflows. In this regard, Emomali Rakhmon has ordered to create in all major towns posts of rescue services working round the clock, and ordered local authorities to timely prepare for floods.