DUSHANBE, December 28, 2015, Asia-Plus – Azerbaijan has reportedly sent a humanitarian aid to Tajikistan for earthquake victims.

According to Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Emergency Situations the humanitarian convoy consisting of eleven trucks departed for Tajikistan on December 27.

The assistance reportedly includes 9.5 tons of sugar, 15 tons of rice, 3 tons of tea, 16 tons of vegetable oil, 19 tons of wheat flour, 19 tons of macaroni, more than 18 tons of vermicelli, 50 generators, 110 tents, 6000 square meters of metal roofing, 30 cubic meters of wood, and 2,000 bedding kits. 

We will recall that a magnitude-7.2 temblor occurred in Tajikistan’s Gorno Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO) on December 7, killing two persons and injuring ten people.  The Geophysics Survey of Tajikistan’s Academy of Sciences says the epicenter was 93 kilometers west of the settlement of Murgab, the administrative center of GBAO’s Murgab district, 138 kilometers northeast of Khorog, the capital of Gorno Badakhshan and 357 kilometers southeast of Dushanbe. The Bartang Valley in the Rushan district was the most his area.  According to figures from the Committee of Emergency Situations and Civil Defense under the Government of Tajikistan, 1,327 houses were damaged or destroyed and 7,962 people were displaced as of December 11.  Critical infrastructure, including roads, medical facilities, hydro-power stations, and schools also incurred damage.