Mudslide hits Almaty

A mudslide occurred in Almaty last night on the territory of the Nauryzbaysky district, flooding two neighborhoods, making it necessary to evacuate the population.

898 people were evacuated from the flooded area at 9:00 MSK, RIA Novosti reports. According to the Acting Chairman of the Committee of Emergency Situations of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Kazakhstan, Serik Aubakirov, there are no victims and there is no danger of the mudslide recurring. He also noted that information about the dam breaking is not true. Aubakirov said that the mudslide in Almaty was caused by the melting of a glacier.

Zhandossova and Yassaui Streets, and the villages of Druzhba and Akzhar are in the flood zone, the water level of the River Kargalinka has risen by 1 m.

Meanwhile, a fake photo of the mudslide has appeared on the Internet. The press secretary of the Department of Internal Affairs of Almaty, Saltanat Azirbek, noted that some of the photos and videos captured a mudslide on July 1 in Karachayevo-Cherkessia. The distributors of these materials will pay up to 5000 MCI or deprivation of liberty for a term of 2 to 5 years.

According to Azirbek, in such cases the committee uses all emergency methods to warn the population. "We carry out mobile foot patrols, detours, use signal public-address systems. We used to intercept 20 television and 6 radio channels," he said.

The situation is calm in the city now. "The citizens fulfilled all the requirements of the specialists in the evacuation. The protection of public order was carried out by some 500 police officers. There were no cases of marauding, the protection of buildings from which people were evacuated is being carried out by employees of the Internal Affairs Department of Almaty," Saltanat Azirbek said.

According to Zakon.kz, residents affected by the mudslide are entitled to social benefits of 100 MCI.