Help Families Braving Extreme Cold in Tajikistan

Extremely dangerous winter weather is gripping much of Asia - knocking out electricity, freezing water mains and further isolating already-remote families. Photo: courtesy of Reuters AlertNet

Families in some of Tajikistan's most remote areas are braving food, fuel and water shortages triggered by record cold temperatures in the Central Asian nation.

Mercy Corps is part of a consortium of global humanitarian agencies responding to both urban and rural regions of the Sughd region and the Rasht Valley. So far, we've distributed 2,100 blankets and are preparing to distribute nearly 1 million water-purification tablets, two-dozen generators and 54 maternity-ward beds to keep babies warm in unheated hospitals.

Agency assessments reveal that both urban and rural residents of Tajikistan — one of the world's poorest countries — are severely affected by the effects of the country's extreme cold snap. Nearly half of those surveyed said they are eating less than last year; two of every five people eat only one hot meal a day.

Rural residents depend on fall harvests to get them through the winter. But 70 percent in our assessment report having two or less weeks worth of food on hand. Among the stocks of 36 households surveyed, more than 30 tons of food have been spoiled by the ice, and 400 heads of livestock and chickens have died.

Mercy Corps' response includes immediate, intermediate and longer-term plans that include purchasing dry foodstuffs, blankets, heaters, stoves, and fuel, and distributing them to identified orphanages, children's homes, infirmaries, hospitals and other vulnerable people in areas receiving little to no electricity. Approximately 27,000 people will receive the food and cold-weather items.

Please give now to our Emergency Response Fund to help deliver needed aid to families braving one of the coldest spells in their country's recent history.