Crisis Looms as Bitter Cold, Blackouts Hit Tajikistan

…With many Tajiks spending what little money they have on fuel to heat their homes, the country is about to face widespread food shortages, says the United Nation’s Zlatan Milisic.

“Increased food prices, previous reduced harvests, very, very cold weather, and the energy crisis have all contributed to the fact that the people are not able to cope anymore on their own,” he says.


As the pale winter sun sets over the Tajik capital, Timur Fatholaev chops wood outside his crumbling, five-story apartment building.

He says those who can afford it have installed woodstoves to heat their apartments.

“I don’t sleep at night because I’m worried about my 1-year-old daughter. I’m afraid she’ll freeze … like my neighbors’ child did,” he says.

Fatholaev’s neighbor, a 27-year-old mother, put her 10-month-old daughter, Dilnoza, to sleep in a wooden cradle one night in January. Dilnoza was dead when her mother went to retrieve her in the morning.

There have been widespread reports in the Tajik media of children dying in the maternity wards of hospitals during prolonged power cuts. But the Tajik government insists that no one has died due to the blackouts.

NPR