Technological Disaster - Asia - Kazakhstan

Thousands of people have been evacuated in Kazakhstan after two dams burst in the region around Almaty, the Kazakhstan Emergency Ministry said today. A dam burst yesterday at a water reservoir in the Aksuisky district north of Almaty, flooding a village of 3,000 people, who were evacuated to a nearby town, the ministry said in a statement. "There are victims, but their identities and numbers are being checked," the Emergency Ministry said. In a separate incident yesterday , a dam was washed away in the nearby Karatalsky district after heavy snowfall melted, forcing the evacuation of a village of 820 people, most of whom have taken shelter in a school. The flooding has also washed away a bridge on a main highway connecting Almaty with the northern city of Ust-Kamenogorsk, the ministry said. Around 300 rescue workers have been sent to the scene, the ministry said. The country's Prime Minister Karim Masimov was also due.