KYRGYZSTAN: Fatal landslide in Budalyk was unexpected, say emergency officials

ANKARA, 27 April 2004 (IRIN) - Monday's deadly landslide in southern Kyrgyzstan - where at least 33 people lost their lives - caught Kyrgyz emergency officials by surprise, despite a recent landslide risk assessment in the region. "The Kaynama area [in Budalyk village] was landslide-prone based on the results of the monitoring. However, specialists didn't expect such a quick sliding of the land in the area. A high level of moisture [in the soil] and a series of recurring tremors over the past week resulted in the land mass rushing down," Emil Akmatov, a spokesman for the Kyrgyz Emergency Situations Ministry's civil defence unit, told IRIN from the capital, Bishkek. His comments came a day after a landslide of more than three million cubic metres ripped through Budalyk village in the southern Osh province's Alay district, killing 33 people and injuring 11 others. Some 11 houses were buried under the land and seven damaged. Earlier, on Saturday, an 18-year-old shepherd was killed by a landslide while herding his flock in the Tulku-Say area not far from the southern Kyrgyz town of Mailuu-Suu. On Sunday, another landslide occurred in the southern Kara-Suu district killing some 50 head of livestock. According to the Kyrgyz emergency agency, by Monday evening a tent camp had been established in the affected area with some 50 tents brought from Osh, the second largest city in Kyrgyzstan and the capital of Osh province. "Rescue work has been stopped upon agreement with the local people. Elderly people have proposed to designate the site a common grave for victims," Akmatov added. Although there hadn't been any official request for assistance, Akmatov noted that the Kyrgyz emergency authorities applied to their Russian counterparts for shelter assistance. Earlier this year, emergency officials warned of the increasing risk of landslides in the south - a trend likely to continue. "The tendency of growth in the number of landslides will probably continue until the end of July. Everything will depend on weather conditions," Akmatov warned, adding that over the past four months 91 landslides had been registered in the former Soviet republic. In 2003, 39 people were killed by landslides in the mountainous Central Asian state, while just in four months of this year almost 40 people died. The emergency agency said in a statement on Tuesday that more than 2,000 families were living in landslide-prone areas and needed to be moved urgently to avoid any possible casualties. But the main obstacle in accomplishing the daunting task of moving residents and providing housing was a lack of resources. About US $11.5 million is needed to resolve the issue. "Some $18.4 million goes into the country's budget annually based on the emergency situations tax. But this money was never used only for emergency situations. The solution is to spend this money purposefully and move all people living in dangerous areas [into safe areas]," the statement said.