Iran’s second aid cargo arrives in Tajikistan for quake-hit population of Vanj in Gorno Badakhshan

DUSHANBE, January 28, 2010, Asia-Plus  -- On Wednesday January 27, the Iranian Embassy in Dushanbe handed over humanitarian aid for the earthquake-affected population of the Vanj district in Gorno Badakhshan.

It is the second aid cargo sent by Iran to Tajikistan for the victims of a January 2 earthquake, Iranian Ambassador to Tajikistan Ali-Asghar Sherdoust told reporters here on January 27.

The humanitarian aid worth 70,000 U.S. dollars was dispatched to Tajikistan by land.  “The assistance included winter clothes, food products and tents for residents of the Vanj district that were left homeless after the earthquake,” Sherdoust noted.

According to him the first US$50,000 worth of aid cargo that included food products (sugar, flour, canned foods) was sent to Dushanbe by air.

We will recall that Iran’s Fars News Agency (FNA) reported on January 14 that the first Iranian aid cargo was sent to Tajikistan after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was informed of the volume of the damages incurred on the country by the quake.  The Iranian president, heading a high-ranking politico-economic delegation, visited Dushanbe on January 4.  After he returned to Iran, President Ahmadinejad ordered the Iran’s Red Crescent Society to dispatch two cargoes of humanitarian aids to Tajikistan.