From ReliefWeb
Tajikistan is in the grip of its harshest winter for decades.The Federal Foreign Office is providing emergency aid to the tune of 85,000 euro for those suffering from the extreme temperatures.
The elderly and the disabled as well as children are at particular risk from the sustained cold weather and its consequences.Ovens, fuel and clean drinking water are to be provided in the remote provinces of Sogd and Khatlon as well as in the capital Dushanbe.Caritas, the Aga Khan Development Network and German Agro Action have been commissioned to distribute the aid.In the Rasht Valley, assistance is being granted to clear roads which are currently impassable.Furthermore, food rations are to be given to the especially needy.In the next few days, a shipment of 1000 blankets will arrive from Germany to be used in the country’s hospitals.
As a result of the prolonged cold spell, the rivers which usually feed the country’s reservoirs are frozen.The hydroelectric power stations which provide almost all of Tajikistan’s energy are therefore only able to produce a fraction of what is needed.Electricity supplies had to be cut drastically as a result.Most industrial plants have been out of operation for weeks and in rural areas many people have to manage almost entirely without electricity.Even in the capital, most homes only have electricity for ten hours a day.The fact that many houses and apartments in urban areas only have electric heating systems only serves to exacerbate the problem.
The entire region, especially Afghanistan, has been hit by this cold spell.The Federal Foreign Office is also providing humanitarian aid there.
Ismailimail 