Baku (ICRC) – In the village of Hasangaya, in Terter district, almost 100 internally displaced people (IDPs), mainly women and children, now have unimpeded access to safe drinking water thanks to work carried out by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in cooperation with local authorities and community members.
Among those now in the village are people displaced from Kelbajar district, who were settled soon after the 1994 Nagorny Karabakh ceasefire agreement.
"Their daily life is difficult, as they are very near the front line, which affects their security. Their main water source used to be the river Tartar, where the quality of water is very poor – so much so that it was a threat to public health. The borehole, water tank and tap stands we provided have improved the quality of life in Hasangaya," said Bakir Guliyev, an ICRC water engineer. "The ICRC, Hasangaya residents and the district authorities, working together, have succeeded in providing secure access to drinking water."
In the same village, the ICRC supplied the building materials needed to carry out repair work on the schoolhouse. After the building is fitted with a new roof and windows, 35 schoolchildren who would otherwise have had to go to school five kilometres away will be able to learn their lessons in their own village this winter.
Since 2008, working together with local authorities and community members, the ICRC has also upgraded water supply systems in the village of Ayridara, along Azerbaijan's border with Armenia, in the village of Shukurbayli, in Fizuli district not far from the Line of Contact, and in the two front-line villages of Yukhari Giyamadinli and Mirzanaghilar, in Aghjabadi district. As a result, about 4,000 residents in war-affected areas now have access to clean water.
For further information, please contact:
Ilaha Huseynova, ICRC Baku, tel: +99 412 465 63 35 / +99 412 440 62 22
