Quake Victims Homeless Two Years On

As Janar Akaev reports, families in the Karasuu district were told they should pay bribes to get the paperwork for the loans processed. The going rate was 2,000 soms for the standard 50,000 som loan, worth around 1,200 US dollars.



The situation has changed now that prosecutors are looking into the matter. A number of staff from the Ministry for Emergency Situations have been sacked and are being questioned by prosecutors, and local government officials have been handing back bribes and denying all knowledge.



While government ministries argue among themselves about who is now responsible for ensuring the loans get issued, people like Jusup are doing their best to rebuild old homes or put up new ones.



For the last two years, Jusup has been painstakingly building a small house for his wife and four children so they can at last move out of the tent they are living in.



“What else can I do when there is no assistance? My children are freezing,” he told IWPR. “If I make it in time, I’m hoping we will spend next winter in a warm house.”