UN provides tents for families displaced by deadly Kyrgyzstan quake

[News_Editor]

UN provides tents for families displaced by deadly Kyrgyzstan quake

2011-07-30 14:50:08 GMT+7 (ICT)

BISHKEK (BNO NEWS) -- The United Nations (UN) refugee agency has provided 250 family tents to house an estimated 2,000 people left homeless in Kyrgyzstan after last week's deadly earthquake on the country's border with Uzbekistan.

The lightweight tents were distributed on Friday to people living in Batken and Osh provinces, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported.

The 6.2-magnitude earthquake on July 20 killed at least 13 people and injured 86 others in Uzbekistan. There were no reports of fatalities in Kyrgyzstan, although officials reported widespread damage and at least 15 injured. About 200 houses were destroyed in Kyrgyzstan.

Mahir Safarli, UNHCR's acting representative in Kyrgyzstan, said the tents would help some 300 families to overcome the consequences of the earthquake. He added that the UN refugee agency would continue working with the Kyrgyz government on an emergency preparedness program.

UNHCR donated the tents as part of an inter-agency response closely coordinated with the government, which has been providing assistance and relief on the ground.

Some of the areas affected by the earthquake were ravaged by inter-ethnic violence last summer which left tens of thousands of people displaced. UNHCR has been working to help some of those people rebuild their lives and keep the peace there.

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