FEB. 12 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — In Uzbekistan, temperatures have dropped to nearly minus 30 Celsius, media reported. Shops have closed and the streets are empty as people choose to stay at home to try and keep warm. The extreme cold has put huge pressure on resources. Some schools and hospitals have shut.
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(News report from Issue No. 171, published on Feb. 12 2014)
FEB. 10 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — An earthquake measuring 5.7 magnitude on the Richter scale hit central Azerbaijan. No casualties were reported but the earthquake underlined Azerbaijan’s vulnerability to tectonic shocks. The epicentre of the earthquake was roughly 200km from the capital Baku.
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(News report from Issue No. 171, published on Feb. 12 2014)
FEB. 11 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — A gas explosion in an apartment building in the town of Navoi in central Uzbekistan killed six people and injured seven, media reported. The deaths reflect the dilapidated state of Uzbekistan’s infrastructure. Media reported that residents had been trying to heat their apartments from their gas cookers.
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(News report from Issue No. 171, published on Feb. 12 2014)
FEB. 12 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — The extreme cold weather that has gripped Central Asia is disrupting life in Uzbekistan.
Media reports have said that the temperature in Uzbekistan has dropped to minus 28 Celsius, far below the average for this time of year. Some reports have also suggested that the authorities may impose a state of emergency.
Market stall owners have closed their stores, farmers have moved their livestock into barns and taxis are charging excessive prices for short journeys. Very few people are on the street.
“Commerce is at a standstill right now,” the uznews.net website quoted a market stall owner in the town of Qarshi in southern Uzbekistan as saying.
In Karakalpakstan, western Uzbekistan, reports said some of the region’s hospitals are struggling on without power supply because it’s been too difficult to send in supplies of oil or coal.
But there is also a geo-political edge to these cold snaps that means observers of Uzbekistan should pay more attention.
Central Asia’s energy distribution system is complex and interwoven. Uzbekistan supplies parts of southern Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan in a swap scenario but the authorities there have reported a drop in gas supplies since the cold snap took hold. They have said that the Uzbeks are keeping back supplies for their own use.
If the cold snap is prolonged the drop in gas supplies to neighbouring countries could also increase tension across the region.
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(News report from Issue No. 171, published on Feb. 12 2014)
JAN. 6 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — An Airbus A380 carrying 467 passengers and 27 crew from London to Singapore made an emergency landing in Baku. Reports said that the pressure in the cabin dropped triggering oxygen masks to lower. The pilot landed the plane without any further scares.
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(News report from Issue No. 166, published on Jan. 8 2014)
DEC. 12 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Yet another fire has destroyed a market on the outskirts of Almaty, media reported. Reports said this was probably the sixth major fire to destroy a market in Almaty since November. Tension is increasing as the market traders, often poorer Kazakhs and migrants from China, accuse the authorities of not doing enough to protect them.
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(News report from Issue No. 165, published on Dec. 18 2013)
NOV. 17 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — A fire destroyed a large part of the Barakholka market, a scruffy site on the outskirts of Almaty where many poorer Kazakhs and migrants from China work. This is the third fire at Barakholka in the past couple of months. The Kazakh emergencies ministry has said it suspects arson.
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(News report from Issue No. 162, published on Nov. 27 2013)
JULY 28 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Roughly 50 people were injured when a freight train and a passenger train collided at Almaty’s main railway station, media reported. Of the injured, five were taken to hospital. An efficient rail infrastructure is essential in Kazakhstan. The government has pledged millions to modernise the network.
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(News report from Issue No. 145, published on July 29 2013)
JULY 18 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakh deputy interior minister, Yerlik Kenenbayev, was badly injured in a car crash in north Kazakhstan. The crash killed Mr Kenenbayev’s wife and son. It, again, highlighted Kazakhstan’s poor road safety record. Mr Kenenbayev and his family had been travelling back to Astana.
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(News report from Issue No. 144, published on July 22 2013)
JULY 2 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — An unmanned Russian rocket crashed on take-off at the Baikonur launch site, south Kazakhstan. The rocket smashed into the empty steppe sending an orange cloud of toxic fumes into the air. Rain later dispersed the clouds but the crash raised concerns both about the safety and future of the Baikonur programme and about potential damage to the local environment.
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(News report from Issue No. 142, published on July 8 2013)