Main roads open, capital water crisis eases

International organisations and the Tajik authorities continue to respond to the aftermath of last week's floods and landslides. On Tuesday the clearance from the roads of stranded vehicles - to facilitate the delivery of clean drinking water to roughly 400,000 people in the Tajik capital, Dushanbe - was completed. "With the help of the international community, the government has reacted very well to the current situation," Johannes Chudoba, United Nations Development Programme's (UNDP) strategic planning adviser, told IRIN from Dushanbe. "They have recovered all the trapped vehicles and the main road is open again, even though large stretches of it are still severely damaged," she said. Up to 500 vehicles were trapped and an estimated 5,000 people remained isolated as the only roads linking Dushanbe with the north and south of the country became impassable due to floods and landslides brought on by heavy rains last week. But the contaminated Varzob river, the main source of water for the capital, remains a major concern for the quality of water in Dushanbe. The Tajik authorities reported that, although much of the intake and distribution networks for drinking water remain clogged with mud, the quality of drinking water should improve within the next two days. "What can be done is being done at the moment," Cecile Pichon, representative of the European Commission Humanitarian Office (ECHO), told IRIN from Dushanbe, adding that the city authorities were continuing to provide clean drinking water to the population and that warning campaigns about the dangers of drinking dirty water were still under way. "The key issue is to get prepared for potential outbreaks of waterborne diseases," Pichon stressed, saying that ECHO and local partners were looking forward to preparing support through their two ongoing programmes, one focused on humanitarian issues and the other on disaster preparedness. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) on 16 July approved US $20,000 to provide logistical support and assistance with emergency supplies. The Netherlands also allocated a $30,000 emergency grant to support the relief work. In addition, the UNDP in Dushanbe also endorsed $25,000 for the purchase of logistical and communications equipment such as satellite phones, radios and computers to facilitate the relief effort.