Those were the first words I heard when I got to the office this
morning, which is ironic seeing as last night, I ignorantly and
unknowingly slept the night away.
So, there's major governmental overthrow in Kyrgyzstan by people
opposed to the leadership coming from Bishkek. It started in the
smaller villages with protestors instating their own governors, and
moved in a matter of hours to Bishkek, where it became out of control.
People were killed, police were injured, and every governmental
building in Bishkek was overthrown and destroyed.
Here's where Taraz's little "panic" comes into the story. We live in
a border city, in Kazakhstan but right on the border with Kyrgyzstan.
Right on the border, there's a HUGE dam holding back a HUGE reservoir
of water (think the New Orleans dam...). The Krygyz people who were
protesting in Bishkek threatened to blow the dam if the government
would not step back. Well, something got mixed up in the reports
coming from across the border, and Kazakh new stations began reporting
that the dam had blown and Taraz would be underwater in a matter of
minutes… People fled this city like it was on fire! Some left in
cars, some just grabbed their children and went on foot…it was panic
panic panic. The highways were jam-packed, and cars were picking up
walking families, and people were fleeing.
Crazy, right?!
Anyway, the dam is just fine, the news was wrong, even reporting at
one time, "The water has reached the Taraz bazaar and will be at the
center of city (where I live) in 4 minutes…" The Kyrgyz protestors
did not blow the dam, and we're hoping they're not going to EVER.
So, yeah. I had a great night of sleep, even if we were the only
people left in our building!
Seriously, though…keep Kyrgyzstan lifted high this week as they face a
lot of changed in the next few days…ask for peace, for understanding,
for resolution.
hard like water
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