Rescue operation during floods in Kazakhstan unites people
These days, floods in Kazakhstan’s regions make headlines. At least seven regions have been affected, and 13,659 people, including 5,250 children, have been rescued and evacuated. State bodies, businesses and ordinary people are involved in addressing the aftermath of massive floods, including providing people to those affected, Kazinform News Agency reports.
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According to the Ministry of Emergency Situations, measures have been taken from the very start of the flood period. As of April 1, the ministry and local governments have pumped over 4.6 million cubic meters of meltwater and laid more than 370,000 sandbags and 728,000 tons of inert material.
In the Aktobe, West Kazakhstan, Akmola, Atyrau, and Kostanai regions, 6,034 people, including 2,386 children, are staying in temporary shelters. 10,684 heads of livestock have been moved to safe places.
As of April 1, 8,458 people, 2,124 pieces of equipment, 808 water pumping units, and 65 boats, along with 14 aircraft from the Ministry of Emergency Situations, Ministry of Internal Affairs, Ministry of Defense, local executive bodies, and organizations, are involved in the emergency rescue operations.
At least 49 settlements in West Kazakhstan, Aktobe, Akmola, Kostanai, East Kazakhstan, Ulytau, and Abai regions are without a transport connection.
Tokayev criticizes the government
President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev chaired a meeting that gathered senior government officials, including Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov, focusing on the measures taken by the state to address the floods and help people.
Tokayev criticized the government for failing to prevent the emergency situation.
“This year's floods have exceeded the scale of the floods in 2012 and 2017, which were considered the most significant in 30 years. What does this indicate? There was a complete absence of forecasting work, which is related to a shortage of specialists in the relevant field. The consequences and scale of the disaster, even considering the weather conditions, could have been less severe if the local governments had carried out all the planned flood prevention measures annually,” he said, addressing the meeting.
He warned that the peak of the current floods has not yet passed and urged the government to “prevent human casualties.”
Solidarity of people
Rescuers do their best to save people’s lives and make the situation easier. One of them is 28-year-old Ilyas Zheksembayev, a rescuer from the Akmola region, who has been evacuating victims from the flood zone in Kokshetau. Zheksembayev was in the most flooded areas and was engaged in evacuation. He cannot name the exact number of rescued people since he does not count them; he just does his job.
“I decided to become a rescuer because it is a very noble profession. I like it. You help people, and on the other hand, it is a job for which people will always be grateful to you," he said.
There are heroes in every region. During this difficult period, rescuers are assisted by ordinary citizens, police officers, and volunteers who put a lot of effort into helping eliminate the floods' consequences.
Toktar Yelikbayev, an ambulance paramedic from the Kostanay region, helped evacuate a whole street in Amangeldy village in the region. Thanks to his efforts, the street remained flood-free. On the first day of the flood, he helped stack sandbags and worked on a loader he rented from neighbors to divert water away from houses.
The help comes not only from governmental bodies but also from ordinary people.
“We spent the first days working with those guys who came to help right away. We worked for three days. The whole village knows about it. Someone on a KAMAZ [referring to a truck], me personally on a loader. I don't sit still. I continue to help," said a local volunteer Daniyar Kanekov.
Local officials also do not stay aside. Police inspector Almat Kaparov helped rescuers eliminate the emergency situation in the Dzhangeldy district of the Kostanay region. He participated in the evacuation of 38 residents, including children, and took people to the evacuation center in his duty and personal vehicles.
The floods, which repeat year after year in Kazakhstan, signal that some local bodies are not ready for natural disasters. Yet, once again, it is the solidarity between ordinary citizens that matters.
