Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 26
By Elena Kosolapova - Trend: Kazakhstan regional authorities started to resettle people from the village of Kalachi located in Akmola region due to an outbreak of sleeping sickness, Novosti-Kazakhstan news agency reported with the reference to the assembly of the region.
Two families from the village of Kalachi were moved to the village of Rodionovka. The local authorities provided them with spacious accommodation, some funds for the initial period and ensured social protection.
A strange sleeping sickness with unknown causes was first recognized in the village of Kalachi in Kazakhstan in March 2013. People have been falling asleep while on the move: in the workplace, at school, and it is not possible to wake them up for a few days. When they do awaken, they continue to suffer from drowsiness, memory loss and fatigue, and several have reported having hallucinations.
Some individuals have been stricken several times in a recurrence of the disease. Over 100 people have fallen ill with the disease since its emergence. In December 2014 about 40 people were hospitalized with sleeping disease in Kalachi. In January the epidemic continued to spread.
Earlier head of Akmola region Sergey Kulagin said that the resienents of Kazakh village would be resettled.
"We cannot get rid of the problem, because the causes of the disease have not yet been established. I decided that the people [from the village] have to be relocated, " the head of the region said.
About 70 percent of the village dwellers willingly agreed to leave the village, according to Kulagin.
Kulagin said that the resettlement of all the population from Kalachi would cost approximately 2 billion KZT (184.1 KZT = $ 1).
"But it makes no sense to wait for the money," he said. "Money will be allocated approximately in the second half of 2015, but the issue is exigent."
The head of the region went on to add that he had discussed the issue of resettlement with a number of governmental institutions and they could help. It is reported that first of all, the families with children will be resettled to other regions in the first half of 2015.
"As a rule, they are capable of working and we agreed with some regions that they would take these people," he said.
A total number of 223 families live in Kalachi, including 106 families with children, Kulagin said.
Earlier, an interdepartmental working group was created at the instruction of Kazakh prime minister to address the situation in Kalachi.
The group includes representatives of state agencies: ministries of energy, healthcare and social development, interior, national economy, as well as the national security committee and the region's local authority, and the representatives of research institutions.
Despite the active work of Kazakh scientists, and those invited from Russia, they haven't been able to determine the exact cause of the disease so far but medical examination of the victims says that these people are absolutely healthy otherwise.
Edited by CN
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