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Azerbaijani Governmental Commission holds meeting on flood in the Kur and Araz Rivers

08 June 2010 09:38 (UTC +04:00)

The commission was set up by President Ilham Aliyevâ€™s order of May 19, 2010 over a flood caused by the rise of water level in the Kur and Araz Rivers.
Heads of Executive Powers of flood-hit regions attended the meeting along with members of the governmental commission.
Opening the meeting, chairman of the governmental commission, Prime Minister Artur Rasizade reminded that the water level in all rivers dramatically rose as a result of unprecedented rainfalls and mudflow. Thus, rivers broke dams in some places.
â€œAfter visiting flood-hit areas the Head of state gave concrete instructions, special governmental commission was set up and serious measures have been put in place,â€ the Premier said.
The Chairman of the Governmental commission thanked all governmental agencies for the hard work they have done.
â€œWhat we achieved is that there were no casualties. We successfully coped with this difficult situation,â€ noted Rasizadeh, adding floods in many European countries claimed human lives.
Member of the governmental commission, Deputy Premier Abid Sharifov provided detailed information about the progress achieved and what is going to be done in the disaster-damaged areas.
He noted the flood inundated over 34 villages but people started returning home thanks to the measures put in place.
Deputy Prime Minister Abid Sharifov spoke of the outstanding tasks, including measures to extend a new channel of Araz River to the Caspian Sea.
The commission should appraise the amount of damage in order to pay indemnities to the people.
He found the need to prepare flood response proposals in order to prevent such natural disasters in the future and submit them to the Head of State within two months.
Member of the commission, Deputy Prime Minister and chairman of the State Committee for refugees and IDPs Ali Hasanov said 809 houses of IDPs had been flooded in 23 towns and regions. He said newly built 64 settlements face no problems.
Hasanov noted 59 international humanitarian organizations operating in Azerbaijan appealed to us for assistance. â€œBut we answered that the Azerbaijani state and government is capable of overcoming such a situation on its ownâ€
Chief of the Presidential Administrationâ€™s department of work with regional administration and local self-governance bodies Zeynal Nagdaliyev, Minister for Emergency Situations Kamaleddin Heydarov, Transport Minister Ziya Mammadov, Minister of Environment and Natural Resources Huseyngulu Bagirov and others reported on flood response activities and gave their proposals.
Closing the meeting, Prime Minister Rasizade noted, â€œwe worthily fulfilled all tasks facing us despite all difficultiesâ€