Tashkent, May 05 The President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev at a video conference on 5 May separately focused on the ongoing work in our country to combat coronavirus pandemics, as well as emergency situation in the Bukhara and Syrdarya regions of Uzbekistan.
The President, in particular noted that today the epidemiological situation in Uzbekistan is stabilizing. Number of recovered patients is increasing everyday while the number of new found cases is decreasing. 1,454 out of 2,204 patients infected with coronavirus have fully recovered. No doubt, it is taking a huge effort. To date, it was sent 2 trillion 250 billion soums from the Anti-Crisis Fund and 500 million USD from funds of international financial institutions.
Government of Uzbekistan has taken first steps to relax quarantine requirements in order to create convenience for people, especially for farmers and entrepreneurs.
During the meeting President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev separately focused on severe natural disaster that occurred on the night of April 28 in the Bukhara region. It seriously damaged more than 38,000 homes, as well as 847 social facilities, manufacturing units and agriculture fields throughout the region.
According to the order of President, the government commission is working day and night to address the consequences of the disaster. To date, 70 percent of social facilities and 20 percent of the houses have been restored. In addition, 5 thousand kilometers of power lines, 1.1 thousand transformers were repaired and power supply was restored.
In the video conference meeting President of Uzbekistan briefed on the situation in Syrdarya region due to the emergency at the Sardoba reservoir.
About 90 thousand people from Sardoba, Akaltyn and Mirzaabad districts of region were immediately evacuated to safe areas. All evacuated people were provided with basic necessities, food, clothing and other products. The government commission is working to eliminate the consequences and investigate the causes of the flood.
President said that all government officers assigned to the Syrdarya region will continue to work in emergency mode until all issues related to the restoration and repair of damaged houses, the return of people to their homes, the restoration of infrastructure, and the protection of public health are resolved,.
“The life of people in these areas should not only be restored to its initial state, but also be improved. We all are obliged to build them new housing, social facilities, create new jobs. Our country and society will not leave anyone without care in the face of such unexpected disasters” said President.
To date more than 53 thousand people have returned to their homes.
The Ministry of Emergency Situations, the Ministry of the Interior Affairs and the Ministry of Defense, as well as the National Guard played an important role in rescuing and evacuating people. Today they are widely involved in emergency recovery work.
4 people died as a result of a natural disaster, 1 missed. In particular, two officers of the National Guard lost their lives during rescue operations. President expressed condolences to the families and relatives of the victims.
Shvakat Mirziyoyev emphasized that despite these difficulties, people of Uzbekistan are becoming more united, every day and every minute they show kindness, tolerance, great generosity. This is also evidenced by the fact that people of Syrdarya, Jizzakh and Tashkent regions voluntarily sheltered 81 percent of evacuated people of Sardoba, Akaltyn and Mirzaabad districts.
Other regions of Uzbekistan, ministries, companies and associations, as well as citizens, gathered a huge amount of aid for a short time of period for the people of Bukhara and Syrdarya regions. The assistance includes construction materials, food, clothes, medicines and household products.
By the special order of the President, the law enforcement authorities of Uzbekistan began comprehensive investigation of the incident at the dam of Sardoba reservoir.
“The disaster at Syrdarya region gave a bitter lesson to us. We will conduct a comprehensive examination of the entire dam of reservoir with the involvement of international experts. Only then we will come to a final conclusion, noted President.
In addition, all relevant hydropower facilities, dams and hydroelectric power plants in the country that may be subject to erosion due to heavy rains are currently being monitored by the relevant government authorities.
Unfortunately, as a result of the disaster at Sardoba reservoir dam, some settlements in the neighboring Turkestan region of Kazakhstan were also flooded. The Presidents of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan discussed the issue on a telephone conversation in the spirit of mutual understanding and openness. Moreover a delegation led by the head of Turkestan region of Kazakhstan visited the place of incident and studied the situation in detail.
President Shavkat Mirziyoyev said “our government, relevant ministries and departments, local governments and experts, as well as Kazakh friends, will undoubtedly closely cooperate in combating the consequences of the disaster.
We also express our readiness to provide our Kazakh brothers with the necessary assistance in the disaster relief.
I am convinced that, we will overcome these difficulties cohesively together with our people”.