The region of Sabirabad was also subjected to damages during the natural calamity occurred as a result of inundations of the Kura and the Araxes rivers this April and May. Alongside with other regions which suffered from this natural disaster, a set of measures has been undertaken also in Sabirabad according to the instructions of President Ilham Aliyev. 33 districts were damaged in the region in the aftermath of natural calamity. In general, 9 thousand houses were damaged. According to the decision of governmental commission, 630 new living mansions were planned to be constructed by replacing destroyed houses. During short period of time, the construction of 317 houses has been completed. A particular attention was paid to the creation of necessary infrastructure in districts suffering from inundations, and measures were undertaken to bring land plots to pre-crisis status. New houses were built in line with modern requirements.

Following inundations, the secondary school named after Yusif Gasymov in Mursalli village has been almost fully devastated. According to the instruction of the head of state, refurbishment and reconstruction work was carried out at the school.

President Ilham Aliyev watched the photostand demonstrating previous and current status of the school building. It was reported that as a result of the work carried out from the month of August, two storey building of the school composed of three parts has been reconstructed swiftly in line with modern requirements. The area surrounding this educational facility equipped with all necessary equipment was asphalted and renovated.

Head of state got familiarized with conditions created at the school.

In the assembly hall of school, President Ilham Aliyev was presented the Azerbaijani-Dutch Co-operation Program in the framework of Inundations Prevention Project. It was reported that this project was elaborated by Del Tares and Royal Haskoning Companies of the Netherlands jointly with Azerbaijani relevant public agencies.

President Ilham Aliyev has given his instructions and recommendations concerning the project implementation.

Having studied schemes describing the work carried out in natural disaster zone, head of state met with local residents.

Congratulating them, President Ilham Aliyev said:

- Large scale construction work is underway in Sabirabad region. During short period of time, over 400 houses were built and repaired here. The process goes on. We should try to find soonest resolution to all other issues. This year, we face an unprecedented natural calamity. There was no such case in our recent past. Of course, this disaster required us to mobilize all our efforts. I am very delighted that all agencies worked very timely and effectively. First of all, rescuers demonstrated their high professionalism and moved people timely to safer places. Temporary living conditions have been created at those places. Food supply and educational issues have been ensured by relevant agencies. Medical units were organized at each place of temporary living. This means that first of all, the Azerbaijani state paid its efforts to ensure safety for people and carried out obviously rescue work at high level. There was no single case of loss or injured people.

As far as destroyed houses or collapsed buildings are concerned, Azerbaijan is a strong state, and we carried out all repair and construction work relying upon our own resources. Today, following several months, the larger part of houses has been constructed already. Three thousand five hundred houses either collapsed or came under threat of collapse. There are almost 1500 houses that were built already across the country. 77 percent of houses envisaged to be built in Sabirabad region has been constructed already. And not only houses… There are also schools, mosques, medical institutions and social facilities which require larger funds. At the same time, we had to complete this work shortly to ensure the resolution of a main part of these issues till the winter season.

The work carried out today demonstrates that first of all, Azerbaijan is strong state with larger financial opportunities. The social policy in Azerbaijan is a priority for us. The current year is seen as the year with large number of natural calamities such as fires, mud flows and inundations which occurred in various places of the world, as well as continents and European counties. We watched television and observed that in many cases, all these tragedies remained in our memories with big losses, human losses. As I noted previously, we managed to mobilize all efforts to avoid any human loss in Azerbaijan. On the other hand, all repair and restoration work as well as its financial support in European countries is done by insurance companies. Such practice is not applied yet in Azerbaijan, and 70 percent of houses destroyed built in these places were made of bricks with no quality. Azerbaijani state has taken this entire burden on its shoulders. The immediate decision has been adopted and changes were made to the budget by allocation additional 300 million manats which enable us to carry out this work swiftly. Construction and refurbishment work carried out in last several months demonstrate that we have managed to accomplish this work. We managed to complete this repair and reconstruction work swiftly and with quality relying upon our forces without getting any foreign assistance. It shows once again all tasks standing in front of us are being fulfilled appropriately. This demonstrates also the fact that Azerbaijani state and its citizens sought to show their courage by mobilizing all their forces in face of any natural calamity. We have done this entire job in a short period of time and I am sure that people will live comfortably in these houses. Their lifestyle will be even better, and the unprecedented amount of work was carried out in comparison with past period.

Today, large scale construction operations are underway not only in Sabirabad, but also all other regions which suffered from mud torrents and inundations. Truly to say, these regions became a vast construction site. This work is carried out in all regions of Azerbaijan. I congratulate you on the occasion of commissioning of these houses and wish you sound health.

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President Ilham Aliyev: Those days demonstrated once again what Azerbaijani people are able to do. We are not talking about technical means or financial resources only. If we would not have a strong economy and create the current strong potential in recent years, then it could be hard for us to fulfill this task. However, those days of hardship shown that the people of Azerbaijan is able to do a tremendous work and all people were hand in hand. Larger stones and rocks were transported from Baku and other places to carry out shore protection work. But, we were powerless in some cases when the disaster came because waters and torrents smashed away dams by making lakes to spill over. At that time, we were just rushing to rescue people while still facing the task to undertake shore protection measures. Today, I was informed about the presentation prepared by foreign specialists. We have decided to base our operations on our interaction with foreign specialists. This is explained by our approach to solve this issue definitely to avoid the same problem in the future. The work done today demonstrates already that we step in right direction. Specialists invited from abroad elaborate a larger development plan for us. All issues will find its resolution at the basis of this plan. Shore and dam protection operations, water management and regulation, water warehouses management, purification of rivers from silt as well as a set of multifaceted operations can save us from this problem in the years to come.

But, I would like to reiterate that no matter how difficult the months of this summer were for us, so they were important because during recent years, we see only construction and renovation work and development in each corner of Azerbaijan. The life of Azerbaijani citizens improves each year. Salaries and pensions are on constant rise. All cities and regions become more attractive. Highways are being constructed. Enterprises are created in the country. I mean that we have been witnessing this progress in past years. Allah protected us from this tragedy. But, what can we do when sometimes people are helpless in front of the nature. In spite of this calamity, Azerbaijani people demonstrated once again its force, skills and professionalism against this tragedy. Together with residents of this village, all public agencies - civil servants, employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, our army, police force have been working day and night. It was really a big deal of work to move people from dangerous places to safer zones and then, protect those places and houses against any damage. I can say that we have not faced any unpleasant case. In these difficult times, of course, every citizen’s interest was at stake to extended soonest possible assistance and support to those who suffered from natural calamity. Both the public agencies and companies and at the same time, private businesses have worked well hand in hand. Private companies act at the basis of market economy. They aided also without any lucrative goals. Technical means were mobilized here. Then, labor force came in and worked hard. They have undertaken a big financial liability and did not ask any compensation from the state. This means also a performance.

So, I would say it again that no matter how hard were these moments and months, it demonstrated once again that the Azerbaijani state extends its assistance to citizens at all times and will continue to do so. The strong social policies are being pursued in Azerbaijan, and we do have both a will and a might to solve any issue. We have also the professionalism. I congratulate you once again and wish you good health.

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Agashirin Taryverdiyev, the resident of Shykhlar village of Sabirabad region who participated at this event, thanked the President on behalf of villagers for this large scale work carried out in the natural disaster zone in a short period of time. He invited the head of state to visit his house.

Then, President Ilham Aliyev arrived to Shykhlar village. Head of state studied conditions created in a new house of Agashirin Taryverdiyev.

It was reported that new houses were built in Shykhlar village which was damaged seriously by inundations. Among the total number of houses, 292 are two rooms, 272 are three rooms and 27 are four rooms’ houses. Public utilities infrastructure in houses meets modern requirements. Besides the construction of new houses, restoration and strengthening work has started also for 344 houses located in the territory of region. 64 out of that number is in the restored status already. 2.947 families suffered from inundations have received financial assistance.

President Ilham Aliyev conversed with owners of new houses behind the tea table.

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