Zagatala earthquake - to be continued

Preparing for the second phase of reconstruction is going on in  Zagatala region, which became the epicenter of the earthquake in May 2012.

Construction of houses and public facilities was suspended because of frost. Life here, as in other less affected Gakh and Sheki regions,  as if have frozen.  Ministry of Emergency Situations, which oversees the construction, decided to postpone the works not only due to the cold weather, but for some seismological and financial reasons. 

"Assessment of the damage and scope of work were determined after six-point earthquake and thereafter, financial and material resources, have been allocated, but now the situation has changed,"  said the first deputy head of the executive branch of Zagatala region, Elman Ramazanov a group of journalists and members of staff of civil society "Kura". A team consisting of the journalists of "Yeni Musavat", "Azadlig", Turan news agency, and coordinator of “Kura”, Oktay Gyulalyev, arrived in Zagatala for repeat monitoring; the first was made in the early November.

Speaking about new situation, Ramazanov meant following  numerous tremors in summer and autumn of last year, which affected the houses. The last such earthquake with tremors 4.5 points were  on 29 December, 12 km to the south-west of the city. Some homes have come into complete disrepair, and some were replenished with new cracks, such as in the house of Aisha Musayeva, where the earthquake left through cracks. Earlier Musayeva was allocated five thousand manat for repairs, but now it requires a more serious intervention - the house can hardly be considered safe for living in.

Local headquarters of the Ministry of Emergency Situations told the monitoring group that the committee will resume estimation the damage, and assured that the earthquake consequences will be  completely eliminated. But local residents are dissatisfied with the activities of the previous commissions, including their biased  conclusions. "My house has been completely destroyed, but I was given only 5,000 AZN for repairs," complained Nazim Musayev, the  villager  of Gandhi.

The monitoring group  witnessed so-called damage assessment " by the commission  of the Ministry of Emergency Situations (MES).” The representative of the Agency for Construction  of MES visually inspected a house, and gave the conclusion of the "thorough repair." No  any devices for determination  of earthquake resistance were used.

According to local residents, the same thing did the  Minister of Emergency Situations, Kamaleddin Heydarov, a  couple of days ago. Though he does not having a construction education, examined a home of a complainant, and   replaced the previous conclusion on “major repair”  to “easy repair.”  Residents  of Zagatali region say  that Heydarov avenges them for their demands.

Many of the victims were given 4,000 or 5,000 AZN for repairs. Among the respondents, few people  will agree to these terms, the majority insists on  repair by the MES. "Let them repair the houses and give us security guarantees, if they believe that the house is good for living in," said one of the residents.

It is noteworthy, that the  construction works are carried out by the companies  close to the MES, and imposes the repair on the citizens themselves. This is due to some reasons. As it turned out, the construction of one square meter of housing is estimated by the Ministry of Emergency Situations  at 500-600 manat. Any person who is more or less  familiar with the construction understands that  with such money you can build a house which meet all European standards; however the monitoring could not reveal at least one such house.  Houses are built without toilets, cheap and low-quality materials are used, and the works are carried out by casual and low-skilled workers. This is clearly illustrated by the secondary school built in autumn  in the village of Faldar, which  is falling  apart before our eyes. Cameras  of monitoring group  filmed  the collapsing  ceiling, walls, floors, which filmed. It is damp and cold in classes, and the boiler fails due to weak foundation.

From the experience of eliminating the flood consequences in 2010 , it can be expected that in the near future MES will ask the country's leadership for  additional funds to continue restoration work. Thus,  320 million manat allocated  previously have  already been spent, many houses are incomplete,  and have not been repaired.  The MES stated reported about 3,000 turnkey  houses, but monitoring revealed that at least 30% of the houses are unfinished. Among the houses , which MES considers    complete, is the house of Elshan Arsulov,  in the village of Yukhari Chardakhly, where the walls were built only  by half. "I myself have to erect the formwork,  and collect a rebar," said Arsulov whom the monitoring team found repairing his house. Builders left his house in December, and his family had to spend the whole winter in the temporary structure. The monitoring group saw such  huts and summer tents in other places. Some people have to leave in  unfinished houses.

Workers work in the construction without any enthusiasm  because of low wages, and even  complete absence of wages, what leads to suicide, as happened with the desperate Tofig Zargiyev, who hanged himself on February 6, having failed to get  wage from the construction company "Dogan".

Taking into account objective and subjective reasons, MES  will probably ask for a minimum of 200 million manat. It is noteworthy, that in the neighboring Balakan region last September earthquake damaged about 2.5 thousand houses, of which 1.5 thousand are unfit for habitation. A small number of houses were built in this area, and the main building should begin in spring.

Just like the area of ​​Kura flood, the  northwest region  is turning into another unfinished  constriction site  with multi-million cost and low efficiency. In these two examples, it is clear that the state, which has a special ministry, a large army, a huge building capacity and  funds , is not able to  respond to the challenges of nature. "The main problem is the absence of transparency and civilian control that could lead to operational use of funds. It is no accident in the commissions of different levels  there are not representatives of NGOs or local communities," said Oktay Gyulalyev, the coordinator of Staff "Kura" , who in April last year was arrested and spent two months in jail for carrying out such monitoring. His case is not close yet, and it is in the gaps between monitoring, he every week registers  in the local police  station.—0—