KAZAKHSTAN: Landslide kills 28 in south

Photo: IRIN

Landslides are becoming more common in Central Asia

ANKARA, 15 March 2004 (IRIN) - A landslide struck southern Kazakhstan in the early hours of Sunday morning, burying some 30 people, the Kazakh emergency ministry reported on Monday. "The incident happened in the early morning when everyone was asleep. Twenty-eight bodies have been dug out so far," ministry spokesman Kairzhan Turezhanov told IRIN from the Talgar district, adding that the number of the dead could rise. It is reported that the landslide buried two buildings in the settlement of Taldybulak in the southern Talgar district, some 20 km east of the Kazakh commercial capital of Almaty, at 1:32 am local time on Sunday. Among those killed by an estimated three million cu.m. of earth were 15 women and six children. The bodies of nine Chinese nationals, who had come to the country to do business, have been recovered. Kairzhanov blamed heavy rains and waterlogged soil as the root causes of the incident. "Too much water was absorbed by the soil and this mud mass slipped from the mountains," he explained. Although there had been rains in the region, the incident was unexpected, he maintained. "Last year we had more rains but there were no such incidents," the emergency official noted. Meanwhile, rescue efforts involving some 200 emergency workers were now under way. "We are continuing to clean up the area and dig out the bodies. We will do that until we reach ground level and are sure that no bodies remain," Turezhanov said. No casualties from landslides were reported last in year in Kazakhstan, according to the ministry. However, the mountainous parts of Central Asia, home to some 60 million, are exposed to various natural disasters, including landslides. Some 40 people were killed by a landslide in southern Kyrgyzstan in April 2003, while earlier in March another landslide destroyed a village in the southern Tajik province of Khatlon. Meanwhile, scientists say that the recent increase in landslides and floods in the region is related to increased deforestation and higher rainfall due to global climate changes.