Tajik Flood Relief Effort Inadequate, say Victims

A month after southern Tajikistan was hit by devastating flood and mudslides, residents complain they have seen little of the promised aid

Residents of Kulob, the area struck by mudflows in early May, say that they hear from the media about large amounts of aid provided by the national government and international donors, but the only help they have had is food sent by Tajik businessmen. Nor is the relief effort is being coordinated efficiently or swiftly, they say.

Zulaiko Komilova, who heads a government committee distributing food and other items in Kulob, says she is unaware of any international aid, but insists that government as well as private-sector philanthropists is delivering aid.

A month after the disaster struck, officials do not seem to have compiled accurate lists of the homes destroyed and people affected.

(See IWPR’s report Tajiks Call for Disaster Relief.)

The audio programme, in Russian and Tajik, went out on national radio stations in Tajikistan, as part of IWPR project work funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.