Earthquake - money laundering

Last week a  monitoring group of journalists of the newspapers "Azadlig", "Yeni Musavat", "Bizim Yol", Radio "Azadlig", Turan Information Agency,  RATİ  and the staff of civil society "Kura" visited  Zagatala region most affected by the earthquake in May of this year.

They arrived to review the situation  six months after the earthquake, and how to learn  how 200-250 million manat allocated by the state for their elimination, are used. 

The  public does not know  the exact amount of allocated funds. In June, the Parliament granted the government's request,  and allocated 300 million manat  to eliminate the consequences of the earthquake in Gakh, Zagatala regions, and Kura flood in 2010.

The cabinet  does not publish where and how much money  have been spent, and the Parliament, which has recently been  called in the social networks and the media the zoo, does not ask the government  about the expenditures. Similarly, residents of Azerbaijan know  nothing abut the victims of the earthquake and flooding residents, but in contrast to  deputies, they want to get an answer to this question.

Ministry of Emergency Situations (MES) periodically reports  about  successes  for the elimination of the effects of the earthquake. If  to believe this department,  which is famous by high degree of corruption in a flood zone, 2010, more than five thousand houses and social facilities in Zagatala and Gakh have been destroyed. 

In government circles and MES nothing is told about the second earthquake in September  in the neighbor  Balakan region, where according to the Turan agency, referring to the source  in the local authorities, another  2.500 homes were destroyed.  Nobody knows if the assistance will be provided for the residents of Balakan.

In the villages of Zagatala journalists saw white tents by MES distributed to families whose houses  are uninhabitable. They promised to rebuild the house by the winter, which has already come to this mountainous region, and is consistently frosty. But for now, only a few houses have been built.

A resident Hikmet Mustafayev  and his family consisting of four people wait winter with horror. "The tent is cold, especially at night, the children are sick, I  do not know what to do,"  said the mother of a family.

The construction is indolent, workers do not want to work because of very low wage. They periodically quit their job and go, and  such situation is observed throughout the earthquake zone.

In September the  Headquarters of the civil society "Kura" reported about such trend, said Oktay Gyulalyev, the coordinator  of “Kura” civil society. Local builders go to work in the North Caucasus, where the same work  is paid two to three times more. Workers have been invited from Georgia, but they did not  finish the work and returned back, because they had not been paid.

The families  are made  feed the workers, and if the refuse, the construction is stopped. 

Works go on slowly especially when the workers are hungry, there  are not enough materials. The masons  from Sabirabad who have experience in construction in the flood zone, arrived here last, but they dutifully continue the work, because they do not have any job in their region.  At home, at work and they do not. Construction   in Kura area suspended due to lack of funds. Over two years 460 million manat were allocated for this zone, and the funds were plundered. Many victims of floods and have not received the promised assistance. Several thousand people still managed to get a one-time cash payment of 200 manats or partial compensation for lost crops, or repair.

However, nothing is said about money compensation in an earthquake zone, except that the initial assistance  in the form of expired products. Interviews showed that the victims do not know what funds allocated for construction, how much it costs?

The victims are  not informed about the  sum of the allocated funds. 

The residents complain that the promises given them remain unfulfilled.

Alasgar village has suffered  completely. Builders say that  the relief is complex and say that they will build houses in the valley, if the villagers agreed to move from their native village.

"They want to evict us from here, said one of the local residents, pointing out that there is no health center in the village, poor communication, and in the summer and spring, the rough river cuts off the village from the outside world.

Residents complained of the local head of the community, accusing him that he fulfills the order for relocation. Residents from other villages also complained. It is told that the houses are being built for a bribe of 3,000 manat and mediators on behalf of the Ministry of Emergency Situations are local officials - municipal and executive representatives.

Superintendents of buildings  reported that the construction of 1 sq. m of housing under the key here is evaluated according to the estimate of 500 manat.

That is a house of 120 square meters costs 60,000 manat. "For that price you can build two houses," - says a local resident Afgan.  The price is  obviously increased,  the construction is of poor quality and not from the best materials.

On the night of November 11 and the entire next day was drizzling rain and moist air pushed through the jacket. Work at the facilities are slow. Winter has come. In December, there will be first snow and first.

Huseynov's family with no breadwinner, with the help of neighbors and relatives are building a small room in the garden. People understand that they will not be provided with homes for the winter. The government is engaged in money laundering and does not think about them.