During the heavy rains in April and May, 26 people were killed while more than 3,000 others were forced to leave their homes. Over 2,000 houses, hospitals, schools and other buildings were destroyed in a six-week period.

The Government and aid agencies drew from existing stocks to assist those in need by providing tents, food, clean water and emergency health care, but hundreds of families are still living with relatives or in tents and are struggling to re-start their livelihoods.

“Now we must give affected people the chance to restart their lives,” said Michael Jones, UN Resident Representative in Tajikistan. “For this, we are counting on the support of the international community.”

More than 2,000 people are in need of proper housing before December, when temperatures can plummet to -25 degrees Celsius.

Additionally, essential medicine and school supplies must be replenished, with 20,000 people in need of access to drinking water and 3,100 children waiting to return to school.

The US$7.7 million appeal comprises 18 projects focusing on the worst-hit areas in Tajikistan’s centre and south. Solid and heated houses, along with schools and hospitals, are reconstruction priorities.

In June, aid organizations had called for US$1.3 million to help some 12,000 people in urgent need of assistance after floods inundated more than half the Central Asian nation’s districts.