Kazakhstan: a city deprived of heating for ten days by -30°C

Man repairing a heating in Ekibastouz, December 9.

Photo issued by the Government of Kazakhstan.

AFP - HANDOUT

Text by: RFI Follow

1 min

In the northeast of Kazakhstan, not far from the Russian border, the 150,000 inhabitants of the city of Ekibastuz are used to the extreme cold.

However, for more than a week and by -30°C, the city found itself without heating.

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Polar cold inside homes and even stalactites in apartments, according to local media.

For a week, the inhabitants of Ekibastouz, in

, lived through hell: a general heating failure in several districts, due to a malfunction in a thermal power station.

No more current, no more heating, the pipes burst under the effect of the frost.

The local governor was sacked, heaters and blankets were sent from across the country, but that was not enough to quell the anger of the residents.

Kazakhstan's energy system is widely criticized for being outdated, a legacy of the Soviet era.

The average age of thermal power plants is 61 years, which harkens back to a time when Nikita Khrushchev ruled the USSR.

The incidents are therefore numerous.

The government has meanwhile discarded the owner of the plant in question, the oligarch Alexander Klebanov, the 15th richest man in the country.

But the latter assured to have already given the alert on the difficulties, in particular economic, that his factory is experiencing.

The situation in Ekibastouz has gradually returned to normal.

After 10 days of crisis, the authorities announced this Thursday, December 8 the end of the state of emergency. 

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