Situation Overview
A 5.7 Richter scale earthquake occurred on the night of May 13th, 2012 in the Rasht valley, central Tajikistan. The earthquake affected three districts of Nurabad, Rasht and Tavildara (at least 12 villages), killing 1 person, destroying at least 85 residential buildings and damaging 245 others.
Rock falls in the night of May 12th blocked access to the affected area until 1500 hrs of May 14th, 2012, making impossible provision of emergency assistance and assessment teams from the centre of the country.
Rapid assessment was undertaken by the staff of the Tajik Committee of Emergency Situations (CoES), based in the affected area, as well as Tajik Red Crescent Society’s (RCST) branches in Rasht valley.
District-level Commissions on Emergency Situations, comprised CoES, RCST, Heads of jamoats (sub-districts) and Heads of mahallas were activated in Tavildara and Nurobod districts to coordinate the assessment process.
On May 14th, 2012 Deputy Prime Minister and Chairman of CoES left to the site by helicopter to head the assessment and response coordination efforts.
Damage Information
Damage and needs assessment is ongoing, hampered by inaccessibility of the site. Preliminary results available by the release time of this Situation Report, combined from the information by the CoES and RCST and covering three districts are provided as an Annex 1. It’s foreseen that the damage information will be changing within the next days as the assessment progresses.
Assistance provided
Committee of Emergency Situation
- 40 tents distributed in Tavlidara district;
Red Crescent Society of Tajikistan:
- 7 RCST staff members and 40 volunteers are involved in needs assessment and providing psychosocial support in three affected districts.
Needs Information
- Emergency Shelter items (tents), food commodities, diesel for debris removal/roads cleaning.
For more information, please contact:
- Col. Jamshed Kamolov, CoES Department for Protection of Population and Territories, Tel: (+992 37) 221-8742;
- REACT Secretariat in Dushanbe: Tel: (+992 44) 600–5922; email: react.dushanbe@undp.org