ReliefWeb

On 10 July, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Uzbekistan appealed to the UN Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs for international assistance after a second consecutive year of drought. According to the government, north-western provinces were worst affected, with crop fields reduced to half of the original size. OCHA reported that up to 600,000 households south of the Aral Sea lost their crops and did not have secure drinking water supplies. There were also food problems in urban areas with a steady increase in prices. The drought was exacerbated by a number of structural factors, mainly related to poor water management and lack of maintenance of existing irrigation systems. (IFRC, 20 Jul 2001)