Aid efforts under way after torrential rains kill three

Aid efforts were continuing on Monday after torrential rains swept through the Penjikent District of Tajikistan's northern Sughd province, killing at least three and leaving three missing over the weekend.

"The situation is being assessed and at this stage the immediate needs of the affected population are being addressed," Marzia Nazarova, a senior coordination assistant with the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Tajikistan, told IRIN from the Tajik capital, Dushanbe.

Valentin Gatzinski, the head of OCHA in Tajikistan told IRIN that the country had an unusual spring precipitation with a long, cold and wet season. "A number of mud/landslides have already occurred, though the weekend saw the heaviest rains, accompanied by stormy winds, in the north of the country," he said.

Heavy rains hit the villages of Sarcho, Koktash and Vashni in Penjikent on Friday and Saturday, devastating about 120 homes and impacting on 1,500 people. The deluge also caused massive damage to the area's civic infrastructure, destroying four bridges in Penjikent town. Roads, canals and electricity supplies were also affected. And while conditions in the area were reported to be improving, Nazarova said OCHA was increasingly concerned over waterborne diseases.

Responding to the crisis, OCHA activated the Rapid Emergency Assessment and Coordination Team, which assessed the situation on the ground. To date, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the Tajik Red Crescent and the United Nations Children Fund, together with the World Food Programme (WFP) and the ministry of emergencies, have distributed blankets, hygiene kits, tents, cooking sets and food to the affected population. Additionally, the WFP is conducting a food assessment survey. .

Michael McGrath, the field office director for the Save the Children-US (SCF-US) in Tajikistan, told IRIN that the basic survival needs of the people needed to be met immediately. "I think shelter and food are the immediate priorities," he said. SCF-US is one of the few aid organisations with a significant presence in Penjikent.

He added that in the longer term SCF-US had to look at rebuilding a significantly large number of houses. "We will be also looking at providing livelihoods to the affected people," he maintained.

With a population of 6.2 million, the mountainous, poverty-stricken Central Asian country is prone to natural disasters such as landslides, mudslides, floods and earthquakes.

In April, heavy rains threatened food security in parts of Tajikistan, as the banks of a river burst in an area near Dushanbe. The same flood killed a child in the southeast of the country.