Torrential Rains Leave Havoc in Wake
Villagers in parts of southern Tajikistan are living as refugees in tent camps following heavy rains which produced devastating floods and mudslides.
Torrential Rains Leave Havoc in Wake
Villagers in parts of southern Tajikistan are living as refugees in tent camps following heavy rains which produced devastating floods and mudslides.
Homes have been damaged or destroyed and roads and bridges washed away by rushing water, mud and debris, causing damage estimated at over a million US dollars.
Reporter Jamoliddin Sayfuddinov visited the Khorasan district, where residents of one village told him they had a lucky escape because they guessed that rains would bring a rush of water the following day, and moved out.
In the village he visited, 20 homes have disappeared from sight under the mudslide and at least 60 more have been damaged.
Now the villagers are living in a tent camp the authorities set up for them. Experts are warning that if they are still there when the weather gets really hot – summer temperatures can reach 50 degrees – conditions will become unbearable and disease will be a real risk.
“We’ve been back several times,” said one woman called Hadija. “We can’t get over it. We sit there for a while and then we go away. All you can see is mud, everything is covered in it. All our things, all our animals – everything is under the mud. We left without taking anything with us.”
Reporter Jamoliddin Sayfuddinov visited the Khorasan district, where residents of one village told him they had a lucky escape because they guessed that rains would bring a rush of water the following day, and moved out.
In the village he visited, 20 homes have disappeared from sight under the mudslide and at least 60 more have been damaged.
Now the villagers are living in a tent camp the authorities set up for them. Experts are warning that if they are still there when the weather gets really hot – summer temperatures can reach 50 degrees – conditions will become unbearable and disease will be a real risk.
“We’ve been back several times,” said one woman called Hadija. “We can’t get over it. We sit there for a while and then we go away. All you can see is mud, everything is covered in it. All our things, all our animals – everything is under the mud. We left without taking anything with us.”
