Disclaimer
This report was compiled by an ADRC visiting researcher (VR) from ADRC
member countries.
The views expressed in the report do not necessarily reflect the views of
the ADRC. The boundaries and names shown and the designations usedon the maps in the report also do not imply official endorsement or
acceptance by the ADRC.

Fozilov Elyor
THE STATE COMMITTEE OF THE
REPUBLIC OF UZBEKISTAN ON
GEOLOGY AND MINERALRESOURCESVISITING RESEARCHER,UZBEKISTAN
August 25 to November 20, 2015

1. General Information.
1.1. Geography.
Uzbekistan – a country located in the central part of Central Asia.
Name of the State "Republic of Uzbekistan".
Uzbekistan has an area of 447,400 square kilometers. It is the 56thlargest country in the world by area and the 42nd by population. Among the
CIS countries, it is the 5th largest by area and the 3rd largest by population.
Bordering Kazakhstan and the Aral Sea to the north and northwest,
Turkmenistan to the southwest, Tajikistan to the southeast, andKyrgyzstan to the northeast, Uzbekistan is one of the largest Central
Asian states and the only Central Asian state to border all the other four.
Uzbekistan also shares a short border (less than 150 km)
with Afghanistan to the south.

Landscape. The main part of Uzbekistan is occupied with plains (aboutfour fifth of the total area). And one of the main ones is Turanian plain. To
the East and to the North-East of the country are located mountain rangesof the Than-Shang and Pamir, with the highest top of the country 4,643 m.
To the North of the Central part of Uzbekistan is located one the largest
deserts in the world – Qyzylqum.
1.2. Administrative Divisions.

Uzbekistan is divided into 12 provinces (viloyatlar, singular viloyat,
compound noun viloyati e.g., Toshkent viloyati, Samarqand viloyati, etc.),
one autonomous republic (respublika, compound noun respublikasi e.g.
Qaraqalpaqstan Avtonom Respublikasi, Karakalpakistan Autonomous
Republic, etc.), and one independent city (shahar. compound noun shahri,e.g., Toshkent shahri).

Division

Capital
City

Area
(km²)

Population

Key

Andijan Region

Andijan

4,200

2,477,900

2

Bukhara Region

Bukhara39,4001,576,800

3Fergana Region

Fergana

6,800

2,997,400

4

Jizzakh Region

Jizzakh

20,5001,090,900

5Karakalpakstan
Republic

Nukus

160,000

1,612,300

14

Kashkadarya Region

Karshi28,4002,537,600

8Khorezm Region

Urgench

6,300

1,517,600

13

Namangan Region

Namangan

7,900

2,196,200

6Navoiy Region

Navoiy110,800

834,100

7

Samarkand Region

Samarkand

16,4003,032,000

9

Surkhandarya Region

Termez20,8002,012,600

11

Syrdarya Region

Gulistan

5,100

698,100

10

Tashkent City

Tashkent

335

2,352,900

1

Tashkent Region

Tashkent

15,3002,537,500

12

1.3. Climate.
Climate is mainly desert-continental. Seasonal temperature differenceis significant. Average winter temperature is lower than 6 degrees
Centigrade below zero, while average temperature in July is higher than 35
degrees above zero. Number of precipitations is rather small. It’s therefore,that the agriculture mainly depends on irrigation.

1.4. Demographics.
Uzbekistan is Central Asia's most populous country. Its 31,025,500
citizens comprise nearly half the region's total population. The population of
Uzbekistan is very young: 34.1% of its people are younger than 14.
According to official sources, Uzbeks comprise a majority (80%) of the total
population. Other ethnic groups include Russians 5.5%, Tajiks 5% (official
estimate and disputed), Kazakhs 3%, Karakalpaks 2.5% and Tatars 1.5%.

1.5. Nature.
Nature of Uzbekistan consists of combination of sub-tropical featureswith moderate zones. Land, air, water and fire (sun) have been respected
in Central Asia from the times of Zoroastrians calling people in ancient
times to care for purity of rivers and abundance of soils.

1.6. Environment.
Global problem of the Aral Sea
Uzbekistan has rich and diverse natural environment. The Aral Sea
used to be the fourth-largest inland sea on Earth, acting as an influencing

factor in the air moisture and arid land use. Since the 1960s, the decade
when the misuse of the Aral Sea water began, it has shrunk to less than
50% of its former area and decreased in volume threefold.
Due to the Aral Sea problem, high salinity and contamination of thesoil with heavy elements are especially widespread in Karakalpakstan, theregion of Uzbekistan adjacent to the Aral Sea. The bulk of the nation's
water resources is used for farming, which accounts for nearly 84% of thewater usage and contributes to high soil salinity. Heavy use of pesticides
and fertilizers for cotton growing further aggravates soil pollution.

1.7. Water Resources.
People that lived in the
Asian region had always
cherish the water. There isa saying in the Orient:«There is life in places withwater». Since olden days
settledpopulation
hadchosenplacesforinhabitation near to rivers
and canals. Two large rivers
flow through the territory of
Uzbekistan: Amudarya andSirdarya that spring fromthe outside of the country.
However, Amudarya in its
lower part of flow (1,415km) is within borders of
Uzbekistan, and Sirdarya
being the second river by water-bearing is within borders of our country in
its middle part of the flow (2,212 km). There are few lake on the territory ofour republic. The most number of lakes are situated in mountainous area at
the height of 2,000-3,000 meters. Large lakes include the Sudochye Lakein Amudarya’ delta and Arnasay Lakes. There are also a great number ofartificial reservoirs in Uzbekistan among which the largest one are
Kattakurgan, Chardara, Tuyabuguz and Charvak reservoirs. The largest
lake - Aral Sea had significantly decreased its level in recent years and its
shores left by tens of kilometers.
1.8. Mountain system.
Mountains and foothills comprise about one fifth of the country’s area.
In the East, mid and high mountain reliefs prevail: the boundaries of
Uzbekistan embrace the slopes or ends of mountain ranges of the Western
Than-Shang (Ugam, Pskem, Chotqol, Kurama) and Pamir-Oloy (Zarafshon,
Turkiston, Gissar, Kugitangtau, Baysuntau). To the South and West, they
gradually descend and change to plains. Among the mountains span quite
large trough: Qashqadaryo, Surhondaryo, Zarafshon, Samarqand. The
biggest intermountain trough is Farghona hollow (valley) – 370 km, and thewidth reaches 190 km. It’s framed by the mountain ridges from three sides,
and is open only from the West. On the border with Afghanistan is locatedvast Amudaryo basin.

1.9. Natural resources.
The Republic of Uzbekistan possesses large production and mineral
resource potential, unique agricultural resources, significant volumes ofprepared raw materials (semi-finished products), derived as a result ofprocessing, rich natural resources, developed infrastructure. Modern levelof prospecting minerals is connected with development of richest deposits

of precious, non-ferrous and rare metals, all types of organic fuel – oil,natural gas and gas condensate, brown and low temperature coking coal,oil shale, uranium, many types of resources for construction materials.
On the territory of the Republic of Uzbekistan was found broad rangeof treasures of the soil, which includes more than 100 minerals, out of
which 60 are already used in the economy.

According to confirmed reserves of such minerals as gold, uranium,
copper, natural gas, tungsten, potassium salts, phosphorus, kaolin,
Uzbekistan ranks leadership positions not only in CIS, but in the entire
world. Thus, Uzbekistan is the 4th largest on gold reserves, and is the 7thlargest on mining hereof, 10th-11th – on copper reserves; uranium – 7th8th, on mining – 11th–12th.
Available reserves of mineral resources in majority not only supply
mining complexes for the long perspective, but also allow to raise thecapacities to set up new mining of a number of the most importantminerals such as gold, uranium, copper, lead, silver, lithium, phosphorus,
potassium salts, fluorspar, vollastonit, agrochemical ores and others.

1.10. The State symbols.
The State FLAG of the Republic Of
Uzbekistan.
The law about "The State Flagof the Republic of Uzbekistan" wasadopted on November 18 in 1991 in
the 8th session of the Supreme
Council of Uzbekistan. The flag ofour country is a symbol of thesovereignty of the Republic. The
national flag of the Republic
represents the country internationally when official delegations fromUzbekistan visit foreign countries, as well as at conferences, worldexhibition, and sports competitions. The national flag of the Republic is aright-angled colored cloth of three horizontal stripes: blue, white and green
The State Emblem.
The law about "The State
Emblem" was approved by the 10-th
session of the Supreme Council of
the Republic of Uzbekistan on July 2,
1992. The new state emblem of the
Republic of Uzbekistan was created
to reflect the many centuries ofexperience of the Uzbek people.
The state emblem of the Republicpresents the image of the rising sunover a flourishing valley. Two rivers
run through the valley, representing
the Syrdarya and Amudarya.
1.11. Holidays.
• January 1 – New Year "Yangi Yil Bayrami“• January 14 – Vatan Himoyachilari kuni
• March 8 – International Women's Day – "Xalqaro Xotin-Qizlar kuni“• March 21 – Navrooz – "Navro'z Bayrami“• May 9 – Remembrance Day – "Xotira va Qadirlash kuni“• September 1 – Independence Day – "Mustaqillik kuni“• October 1 – Teacher's Day – O'qituvchi va Murabbiylar“• December 8 – "Constitution Day" – Konstitutsiya kuni
Variable date
• End of Ramazon Ramazon Hayit Eid al-Fitr• 70 days later Qurbon Hayit Eid al-Adha

2. Natural Hazards in the Country.
2-1. Natural Hazards Likely to Affect the (features, tendency).
Uzbekistan ranks high among countries that have endured significant
loss of life and property due to earthquakes and other natural disasters. As
one of the most seismic active regions in Central Asia, Uzbekistan is struckby earthquakes in the eight to ten point ranges. In addition to its seismic
vulnerability, Uzbekistan is affected by hydro-meteorological hazards
affecting the agricultural sector with seasonal floods and periods of drought.
Other threats from landslides, locust invasions and avalanche have beenreported to affect the lives and livelihood of Uzbekistan’s population.

In Uzbekistan 21,3% (90,0 thousand кm2) - of the total area is mountainous;
 10-11% (2,6-3,0 mln. people.) - population live in the mountainous area; 40% - mountainous area susceptible to landslides, avalanches, mudflows and debris processes;
 17% - mountainous area at risk of landslides;
 2,0 - thousand landslides;
 8,3 thousand - landslide displacements recorded in 50 years:
1. 65% of the landslides caused by snowmelt, precipitation andgroundwater
2. 15-20% of the historical and contemporary earthquakes
3. 20-25% of man-made factors
2.2. Recent Major Disasters.

Tashkent earthquake happened at
5:23 am April 26, 1966 At therelatively small magnitude (M = 5.2
on the Richter scale), but because of
the shallow (3 to 8 km) of occurrenceof the hearth, it caused a 8-9 -point(on a 12-point scale MSK-64), shakethe earth's surface and substantial
damage of buildings in the city centre.
At Tashkent, 10 were killed, 1,000
were injured, and about 100,000 wereleft homeless. 28,000 buildings were destroyed, including 200 hospitals
and clinics, and 180 schools, in the Old Quarter of Tashkent, the principal
damage area. Thousands of the ancient, one-story adobe dwellings were
flattened. Additional damage was sustained from the hundreds ofaftershocks which followed.

Andijanearthquake–thecatastrophic
earthquakethat
occurred two (16) December 1902 inthe city of Andijan Fergana region.
The death toll of about 4000. The
earthquake consisted of threeroughly equal strength shocks. The
first of which, a magnitude 8.9,
occurred at 10:00 am. 1-1.5 minutes
there was a second, the mostpowerful force on the pushmagnitude 9-9.5. After 30 minutes, after the first two followed by a third
push, magnitude 8. The earthquake had destroyed 11,000 buildings and
161 types of local building the "European style". Survived only threebuildings of European architecture: urban Orthodox Church, Prison andCity Bank. Material losses, net of government agencies accounted for 12
million rubles. The death toll was 4602 people, which is about 9 per cent of
the residents of the city in 1902.

3. DISASTER MANAGEMENT SYSTEM.
3.1. Administrative system.
The State system of prevention and emergency response consists ofcontrols and capabilities of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of
Karakalpakstan, 12 regions, districts and municipalities, ministries anddepartments, enterprises, institutions and organizations.
The structure and functioning of the state system of prevention andemergency action by the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Uzbekistan.
The Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Uzbekistan:- ensures the creation of state reserves of financial and material resources
for disaster management, as well as the procedure for its use;
- responsible for financial and resource support capabilities for theprevention and liquidation of emergency situations, equip them special
appliances and other material and technical means;- classification of states of emergency situations and determines the degreeof involvement of the executive power to eliminate them;- monitors the activities of ministries, departments, local authorities in theprotection of population and territories from emergency situations;
Specially authorized state body for the protection of the Ministry of
Emergency Situations for Emergency Situations of the Republic of
Uzbekistan.

3.1.1. Ministry of Emergency Situations:- develop and adopt action toprevent emergency situations save
lives and preserve health, protect
the material and cultural values, aswell as the recovery and reduce
damages in emergency situations;- organizes the development andimplementationoftargetedprograms and research in the fieldof population and territories fromemergency situations;- takes within their jurisdiction, obligatory for execution by ministries,
departments, enterprises, institutions and organizations, officials andcitizens;- organize the preparation of controls, forces and protection frames the
population and territories for actions in emergency situations;- controls the forces and means for dealing with emergencies, creates acontrol posts, warning systems and communications;- organizes the emergency rescue and other emergency operations inemergency situations;- carries out state control over the implementation protection measures the
population and territories from emergency situations;3.2. Legal System and Framework.
The Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Republic of Uzbekistan isa central government body responsible for directing and coordinating
activities in the field of civil protection, prevention and response to
emergency situations caused by accidents, catastrophes and natural
disasters.
Ministry of Emergency situations has few documents for disastermanagement of the Republic of Uzbekistan. There are:

3.3. Structure of Disaster Management.
a) National platform for Disaster Risk Reduction.

MAIN TASKS OF THE MINISTRY OF EMERGENCY SITUATIONS OF
THE REPUBLIC OF UZBEKISTAN ARE:
• development and implementation of state policy in the field of disasterprevention, the protection of life and health of the population, material andcultural values, as well as the recovery and reduce the damage in case of
emergencies in peacetime and wartime;• creation and maintenance governance of the State system of Prevention
and emergency response;• manual of civil protection of the Republic of Uzbekistan;• organization development and implementation in the territory of the
Republic of Uzbekistan measures to protect the population of the country,
objects are a national treasure of the Republic, as well as the prevention
and liquidation of emergency situations;• guide to work on the liquidation a major emergency, development andpreparedness of forces and resources required for this purpose;• organization development and realization of target scientific and technicalprograms aimed at the prevention of emergency situations, the protectionof the population of the country and to increase the stability of functioningof objects of national economy as they arise;• organization of preparation of the population, officials and formations of
the SSES to act in emergency situations;RESPONSIBILITIES OF MINISTRIES AND AGENCIES IN THE AREA OFPROTECTION FROM EMERGENCIES:- ensure the readiness of the subordinate enterprises, institutions andorganizations to actions in emergency situations;- develop and conduct measures to improve the sustainability performanceof the industry and its subordinate objects in emergency situations;- submit for coordination to the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the
Republic of Uzbekistan action plan, regulations, rules and instructions forthe protection of emergency;- train workers on ways of protection subordinate objects and actions inemergency situations in the saving services and rescue teams;- create local systems of emergency warning and keep them in constantreadiness;- provide in the prescribed manner on the status of population and territory,
as well as notify the workers in the industry about the threat of an
emergency;- create reserves of material and financial resources;- provide for the organization, financing and implementation of emergency,
rescue and other emergency operations to subordinate objects ofproduction and social facilities and adjacent areas in accordance with theplans of prevention and liquidation of emergency situations;- implement measures for the evacuation of critical facilities and theirpersonnel in the items to ensure the continuation of their work inemergency situations;- ensure the creation, preparation and maintenance of preparedness of
special forces and means of prevention and liquidation of emergency
situations;- monitor compliance with the requirements for the protection

CREDENTIALS OF LOCAL AUTHORITIES TO PROTECT FROMEMERGENCY SITUATIONS:- develop a plan of action to protect the population and territory inemergency situations;- carried out in the prescribed manner the collection and exchange of
information for the protection of the population and territories, as well as atimely warning and informing the population about the threat or occurrenceof an emergency situation;- promote improve the sustainability of enterprises, institutions andorganizations in emergency situations, regardless of their affiliation;- carry out control over forces and resources of enterprises, institutions andorganizations for the prevention and liquidation of emergency situations;- organize the constant readiness of rescue forces special forces to carryout rescue and other emergency operations in the areas of accidents,
natural disasters;- organize and carry out rescue and other immediate work and keep law
and order in their realization;b) National Organizations for Disaster Risk Reduction.
There are sector oriented concepts and target programmers on natural
disaster risk reductions which are specified depending on the area ofactivity and nature of disasters. The SSES functional and territorialsubsystems’ action plans have been developed, approved and aresystematically adjusted based on the Decrees of the President of the
Republic of Uzbekistan, the Laws of the Republic of Uzbekistan andresolutions of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Uzbekistan whichgovern the functioning of the SSES and those of the following bodies:4. Disaster Management Strategy, Policy, and Plan.
For the implementation of the state policy in the field of vital interestsof the individual, society and the state act legal framework regulating theactivities the state authorities and enterprises and organizations, as well ascivil self in the area of civil protection. The Laws of the Republic of
Uzbekistan "On protection of population and territories from emergency
situations of natural and man-made" and "Civil Protection", and a numberof resolutions of the Cabinet of Ministers.
The world practice shows that timely prevention of hazards of naturaland man-made hazards, the priority realization of measures to prevent andreduce their negative impacts are much more economical and more
effective than emergency response.
In order to realize these tasks, the Ministry of Emergency Situations
together with the interested ministries and departments of the Republic of
Uzbekistan, the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Karakalpakstan,regional and Tashkent city State program is designed to forecast andprevention of emergency situations (hereinafter - the State program).
The purpose of this state program is to provide a guaranteed level ofprotection of the population and territories from emergency situations, risk
reduction and mitigation of accidents and natural disasters in the country,
taking into account achievements of the national science and technology,
as well as international experience in this field.

The State Program included the following:
А. Natural disaster risk reduction
1. Risk reduction program for the effects of earthquake
2. Program on prevention of floods, mudflows, avalanches and landslides
3. Program on prevention of epidemics, epizootic outbreak, epiphytoties
B. Technological disaster risk reduction
4. Program on prevention of chemical emergency
5. Program on prevention of accidents at explosive and fire hazardous sites
6. Program on prevention of accidents at the sites and power network
7. Program on prevention of transport accidents and disaster (motortransport, railway, aircraft, the Metro)
8. Program on prevention of disaster at hydraulic engineering structures
C. Early warning of population
9. Program on creation of territorial and local systems and early warning
D. Improvement of emergency rescue services
10. Program on equipping the Center on training and advanced training of
rescue workers of MoES with rescue gear, equipment, outfit and on
construction of training centers
E. Training of the population on disaster preparedness
11. Program on training of population

5. Budget Size on National Level.
Every year, the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Uzbekistan
devotes about 9 mln. dollars to the introduction of monitoring of hazardous
geological processes.
6. Progress of the Implementation of Hyogo Framework for Action(HFA)(Please click on the link below on the Government of the Uzbekistan
National Progress Report on the Implementation of the Hyogo Framework
for Action (HFA), as of 20 March 2009.
http://www.preventionweb.net/files/9814_Uzbekistan.pdf
7. Recent Major Project on Disaster Risk Reduction
The joint project of UNDP in Uzbekistan and the Ministry of
Emergency Situations of the Republic of Uzbekistan "Strengthening thepotential of theManagement".

Republicof

Uzbekistan

forDisaster

Risk

Information about the project
Strengthening the potential of the Republic of Uzbekistan for theprevention and mitigation of natural disasters is part of the Framework
Programmer of the United Nations Development Assistance for 2010-2015.
In this regard, in order to build capacity in the Republic of disaster risk
management in July 2010, United Nations Development Programmer in
Uzbekistan and the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Republic of
Uzbekistan initiated and signed the joint project "Strengthening thepotential of the Republic of Uzbekistan for Disaster Risk Management".
The purpose of the project
The purpose of this project is to create a sustainable mechanism fordisaster risk reduction, according to the Hyogo Framework for Action for
2010-2015. This project also aims to improve the training of personnel,material and technical potential of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, theAcademy of Sciences of the Republic of Uzbekistan and the public in thearea disaster risk reduction.
The direction of the project
Strengthening the capacity of Ministry of Emergency Situations of the
Republic of Uzbekistan and the risks involved in the management of natural
disasters and climate sides, in order to mitigate and reduce the risk ofnatural disasters, as well as timely and strategic response to any event of acatastrophic scale, threatening the lives of people in Tashkent and, at alater stage, other areas of the Republic, located in the high-risk areas.
Ensuring public awareness of about natural disasters and promoting aculture of behavior in emergencies.
Strengthening the capacity of the UN system in Uzbekistan to develop
a common strategy for disaster risk reduction needed to assist the Republicof Uzbekistan in the event of a catastrophic disaster.
In 2012, the project is headed for the support of the initiatives of theGovernment of the Republic of Uzbekistan to raise public awareness about
earthquakes and building a culture of people's behavior during earthquakes,
as part of which included the following:- Seismic stability of individual houses;- Formation of culture of behavior of preschool children in the earthquake;- The documentary educational film;- Application for Mobile Phones;- Mobile Team preparing the population for emergency situations;- Seismic zoning map of Tashkent;- International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction.

8. ADRC Counterpart.
1) Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Republic of Uzbekistan
100084, Uzbekistan, Tashkent, 4, Kichik khalka yoli str.
Phone: +998 (71) 239-1685
Fax: +998 (71) 150-6299
Web-site: www.mchs.gov.uz
E-Mail: it@mchs.gov.uz
2) State Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan on Geology andMineral Resources
100060, Uzbekistan, Tashkent, 11 Shevchenko str.
Phone: (99871) 256-86-53
Fax: (99871) 256-22-75
Web-site: www.uzgeolcom.uz
E-Mail:geolcom@bcc.com.uz