Record Breaking Winter Weather Hits Children in Tajikistan the Hardest
February 17, 2008
Daytime temperatures in Tajikistan have dipped below 20 degrees Celsius in what has been called the coldest winter in three decades. Heavy snow fall and bitter cold have frozen Tajikistan’s hydro-power plants causing an energy crisis, which forced the government to ration electricity. People all over the country now have as little as three hours of electricity per day, according to local and international press reports. These freezing temperatures and power outages have created a grave humanitarian emergency.
In October, the Tajik government instituted a winter power distribution schedule which limited households and offices to six to eight hours of electricity per day but hospitals were said to be exempt from these limitations. In light of the crisis, however, hospitals are receiving only a few hours of electricity and, when possible, use generators in order to provide adequate services to their patients. The United Nations news agency IRIN reported that hospitals are operating in sub-zero temperatures, with vulnerable premature babies requiring incubators the most at-risk. According to the London-based Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR), one woman and her baby died due to a power outage during a caesarean section operation. The deaths of several newborn babies were also attributed to the lack of power and bitter cold, New York-based news Web site EurasiaNet reported.
Even at home families are struggling to survive this winter’s deep freeze. Without any alternatives, residents of Dushanbe and other urban areas dress in heavy layers and huddle together for warmth. Parents with young children are particularly concerned. One mother told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty that she had not taken her eight month old daughter out of her cradle for two days because of the artic temperature in their apartment.
Unlike hospitals, schools and universities are not exempt from the power rations and many are unheated, according to local and international press reports. After the temperature fell to minus 22 Celsius on January 19 in Dushanbe, the lowest recorded temperature since 1982, many parents kept their children home from school hoping to avoid illnesses caused from unheated classrooms. Such parents have good reason – in its press release on the current crisis in Tajikistan, the World Health Organization (WHO) stated the unusually cold conditions heighten the risk for acute respiratory infections and a worsening of chronic diseases, particularly among children under five and the elderly. In addition to these risks, the lack of running water could strengthen the threat posed by diarrhoeal disease, already a formidable danger in Tajikistan.
The bitter cold has also taken a heavy toll on other vulnerable groups as well. According to the Dushanbe-based News Agency Avesta, two internal migrants froze to death in the western city Kurgantube. One of the men was found in an outdoor traditional oven called a tandyr, where he tried to keep warm. United Nations Resident Coordinator Michael Jones has called this winter “multifaceted humanitarian emergency,” IRIN reported. According to Jones, the winter crisis poses a real threat 500,000 of Tajikistan most vulnerable populations - children in orphanages, patients (including severely ill adults and children) in hospitals, and people who cannot afford more than one meal a day.
The Government of Tajikistan has requested assistance from the United Nations and international relief organizations. The United Nations, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), the Estonian Foreign Ministry, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and Save the Children-USA have responded to the request by airlifting emergency supplies including extra generators, cold weather blankets, warm clothing for children, basic and supplementary health kits.