I got the following email from friends earlier this week. I didn't think much about it, really, even as bad as it sounds, because they are sometimes dramatic. But then, on my way home today, NPR had a piece on the dire straits in Tajikistan (a former Soviet republic, south of Russia, just in case): no electricity and freezing temps which means no water. People are calling aid agencies to step in, asking the government to declare a state of emergency....
And so, because our world isn't so big any more, I'm passing this on. Please pray:
Dear friends,
Sorry that Jennifer & I have been so long in writing a newsletter. I
won't talk much about what we've been up to at the moment since I am now writing for you to urgently pray for Tajikistan.
Tajikistan is generally a hot country and so not very well prepared for
extreme cold. At the start of January the weather here turned very cold
and stayed below freezing for about 3 weeks. The temperatures were the lowest they have been for 25 years. The immediate result of this was
many people having no water because of frozen pipes or having to deal
with burst pipes.
However the bigger problem has come with electricity. Because of the
cold and the lack of gas more people have been using electric heaters.
This has overloaded the system and many people have then had power
outages due to burnt out cables and regional transformers - some friends of ours had no electricity for 3 days in the week when the temperatures dropped to -22C (-8F) and their house was only 7C (45F) indoors. There were serious protests outside the electricity company when one hospital lost power and several babies in the intensive care unit died as a result.
The government has responded by enforcing a power regime where certain areas of the city have power only every second day. Also most
restaurants and bakeries and other large users of electricity have had
their power cut off completely. Every winter Tajikistan imports
electricity from the surrounding countries but this supply was cut as
they were suffering as bad as we were. Tajikistan relies largely on
hydroelectric power from rivers supplied by water from glaciers
melting. The water supply level for the hydroelectric plants is now
dangerously low and they are not expecting much more to fill the
reservoirs until April. This week the government announced that they
expect to be unable to supply any electricity from the 10 February until
there is either sufficient rain or it becomes warm enough in the
mountainous areas to melt the snow and glaciers to refill the
reservoirs. It sounds like they are planning to declare an official
state of emergency some time in the next 2 weeks. The British Embassy
has advised non-essential personnel to leave the country. Flights out
are now fully booked and Turkish Air says they can't take any more
bookings as they won't be able to fly in if there is no power at the
airport.
So, please pray for the country. Pray for the businesses that have been
closed to conserve power, and their employees who will have to survive
these cold and hence more expensive months with no income. Pray for
warm weather in February so that people will be able to survive the
cold. Pray for either sufficient water to power the hydroelectric
plants or for Tajikistan to be able to import power from somewhere
else. Pray for the inflation rate to not become too excessive so that
people can afford to live - fuel is already double the normal price and
much of the fruit & vegetables stored for winter have been ruined by the
cold. Pray that we can be a help and support to people in this hard
time and show God's love to them.
Thanks for your prayers
Jon, Jennifer, Paul & Rachel
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