DUSHANBE, October 19, 2010, Asia-Plus  -- Up to 70 percent of bomb shelters in Tajikistan that are officially called “built-in antiradar shelter for the population during the special period of time” are fit for exploitation, while the remainder are still under rehabilitation, Khaybullo Latipov, the head of the Committee for Emergency Situations and Civil Defense (CES), remarked at a news conference in Dushanbe on October 19.

According to him, the bomb and radiation shelters had been built in cities and settlements of Tajikistan in the Soviet time already.  “However, they are in good working condition and exercises on rules of exploitation of them and unhampered access of citizens to them in case of emergencies are conducted in these shelters,” the CES head noted.

Air-raid shelters, also known as bomb shelters, are structures for the protection of the civil population as well as military personnel against enemy attacks (bombing) from the air and against mass destruction weapon in wartime and against disasters in peacetime.  They are also used for national economy’s needs.