Astana, Apr 6 (EFE).- Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said Saturday that the country is experiencing perhaps the worst natural disaster in 80 years in a message to the country, in which he called for resilience in the face of floods and promised that no one will be left without help from the government.
“Perhaps this is the biggest disaster in terms of scale and consequences of the last 80 years,” the head of state said in a televised address, pointing out that “almost two-thirds of the country has been flooded.”
The leader said that a state of emergency had been declared in ten of the country’s 17 regions and that all resources had been mobilized to deal with the flooding that began three weeks ago.
“The administrations of the affected regions are working around the clock and tens of thousands of volunteers are providing important help on the ground. The situation is difficult, but there is no need to despair, we will correct it. The main thing is to avoid human casualties,” Tokayev stressed.
The Kazakh president promised that the state would provide assistance to all those affected by the floods.
“The government needs to quickly develop an effective compensation mechanism and explain it to all the victims. The amounts should be proportional to the damage suffered,” said Tokayev, adding that he had ordered the Cabinet of Ministers to allocate the necessary means to assist the population. EFE
