DUSHANBE, January 13, Asia-Plus  -- During last year, a group of representatives from National Red Crescent Societies of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan took part in an earthquake response operations in Pakistan’s areas destroyed by the devastating earthquake.

            Firuz Aminov, an employee of Tajikistan’s National Red Crescent Society (NRCS), has told Asia-Plus that Ikrom Soliyev, head of the NRCS emergency management department, and Shamsiddin Muhiddinov, an employee of the Tajik Delegation of International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), represented Tajikistan in those operations.  

According to Aminov, the rescue team from Central Asia distributed humanitarian aid to more than 5,600 families and provided medical assistance to more than 1,300 people.  “Participation in such a large-scale disaster response humanitarian operation was the first experience for representatives from Tajikistan”, the Asia-Plus interlocutor said, noting that this action was carried out under support of IFRC in response to Pakistani authorities’ appeal for help.            

            As it had been reported earlier, more than 73,000 people were killed in the South Asia earthquake in October and almost an equal number were seriously injured, and more than 2.5 million people were left homeless.