On 18 February, the UN Office in Dushanbe launched a Flash Appeal titled “Tajikistan: Compound Crises”. The appeal prepared on behalf of the Tajik Government is addressed to international donor agencies in order to meet urgent humanitarian needs arising from the most severe winter in the last three decades, and to avoid further life-threatening situations in the country.
Michael Jones, UN Resident Coordinator in Tajikistan told journalists at a press conference in Dushanbe that “the Flash Appeal aims to enable humanitarian agencies to assure adequate food, water, fuel and electrical power for heat, essential healthcare services and other basic commodities over this critical period”. Seven UN agencies and five international NGOs (implementers of the disaster response activities) accredited in Tajikistan need to mobilize $25,1 million in order to mitigate the ongoing hardship and prevent further food and health crises. The appeal says that “at least 260 thousand people are in need of immediate food assistance. Moreover, the government reports that up to 2 million people may require food assistance through the end of the winter if limited food and fuel supplies in rural areas are not replenished”.
Gulomjon Bobozoda, head of the Tajik Ministry of Economic Development and Trade said at the same press conference that “…we should expect a “cumulative effect”, i.e. a long-term impact on all sectors of Tajikistan’s economy caused by the harsh winter, extremely low temperatures, outages of electricity, etc.” Bobozoda added that for the time being, it is difficult to estimate losses precisely; joint efforts of the government and international agencies are needed to measure the extent of the disaster in order to mobilize funds and take adequate measures.
According to a recent official statement by the National Bank of Tajikistan (NBT), the economic loss from the cold weather in January and February has amounted to $250 million. NBT says that the recent frosts have destroyed vineries, gardens, cotton and potato fields. Kitchen gardens of private households in rural areas are also affected, but nobody can make any estimates of future losses – it will become obvious in spring.
Similar concerns have been voiced by other UN entities in Dushanbe – the World Food Program (WFP) and the World Health Organization (WHO). “People are spending more on food, but they eat less; many of them eat once a day”; and “Livestock has been severely affected; production of milk and eggs has dropped by 30-50%”; “many fruit gardens are destroyed”, — said the WFP and WHO experts.
Michael Jones also stressed a big probability of “future calamities” – meaning lack of clean water, especially in rural areas, and – as a consequence – outbreaks of water borne diseases, shortage of basic food, etc. According to UNDP Office in Dushanbe, 64% of people in Tajikistan subsist on less than $2 per day, and 41% of the country population does not have access to safe drinking water.
Matlubkhon Davlatov, State Advisor to the President acknowledged at a recent meeting with representatives of the international financial institutions that “the crisis has had a negative impact of food security in the country”. He added that “the industrial enterprises and the agrarian sector are in critical condition, which is undermining the economic reforms in the country”.
Shukurjon Zukhurov, Tajik Minister of Labor and Social Protection said that during 2007, salaries in Tajikistan had increased by 41% (and amounted on the average to $44 per capita); however, the inflation in 2007 had reached the level of 19,7%, which completely “swallowed” this achievement. During 2007, prices on wheat (the main food product for Tajikistani) have increased by 70%; and prices on oil products – by 50%. This has entailed a rise in prices on all products and services. It looks absurd, but independent observers say that the prices on certain products in Tajikistan (the poorest among the CIS countries) are much higher than those in the biggest and most expensive capitals of the world such as Moscow and New York.
The US Agency for International Development (USAID) intends to provide Tajikistan with and equivalent of $830 in the form of fuel, heaters, clothing, household supplies, and health services through the USAID implementing partners – Save the Children, CARE, and Mercy Corps. The US Department of State is also shipping 259 thousand humanitarian daily rations to Tajikistan. The total value of the rations, including transportation, is $1,6 million, bringing the total value of US Government humanitarian assistance to nearly $2,5 million.
Hydro energy accounts for about 80 percent of total power output in Tajikistan. Specialists of Barki Tojik, the Tajik energy holding say that the level of water in the Nurek hydropower facility’s reservoir (the biggest and the main source of hydropower in the country) is very low and close to critical. However, there is a hope that with the currently improving weather conditions, in a couple of weeks, the plant will be producing more power – sufficient to cover the main needs of both the population and the industrial enterprises. For the time being, Barki Tojik keeps applying a “limited power supply mode”, i.e. most of the districts in Dushanbe have electricity only during a few hours a day; stores, restaurants and other objects of infrastructure are cut off from the grid (some of them use their own diesel generators). As for the provinces, the situation there is even sadder.
There is another peculiarity in these conditions – despite the despair, the local media do not dare to criticize the authorities, whereas the social strain is quite palpable among the people at large. “We have double standards in our society, — says a well-known Tajik lawyer, — We see a number of new construction sites in Dushanbe – five-star hotels being erected… We see fancy cars and villas in the city. And everybody knows who these things belong to. These “masters of life” control the economy, but they are deaf to people’s cries. In spring we’ll be facing another serious threat – dirty water from the taps. And somebody will be appealing again for international assistance. It happens time and again…”
In order to overcome the crisis, the government has formed a special working group comprising representatives of key ministries. It would be inappropriate to criticize the authorities for “not-doing-anything”; on the contrary, a lot is being done. However, more than ten years have passed since the end of the civil war in Tajikistan, but the country remains prone to various calamities, and cannot cope with any serious problem alone.
Konstantin Parshin
Источник: NANSMIT