DUSHANBE, March 29, Asia-Plus  -- An emergency situation has occurred in eastern Tajikistan as a landslide has dammed the river, creating a large lake, according to the Committee for Emergency Situations (CES).

The source at a CES told Asia-Plus today that a huge mass of loose earth and boulders broke away from a mountainside in the Nourobod district, some 130 kilometers east of Dushanbe, damming the Surkhob River.  The area is threatened by flooding as a lake was created by the landslide.  “The lake is some 3 kilometers in length and more than 200 meters in width; the depth of the lake is some 25,” the source said, adding that the risk of new landslides in that area is high.

Therefore, this section of the road is closed for traffic and 400 residents of the nearby villages of Gulmon, Airport, Chorsada, and Sicharogh have been relocated to safe place and.  A special commission has been set up at the CES to monitor the situation, the source said.