KAZAKHSTAN Kazakh villages buried under the sand

In about twenty localities of the Aktyubinsk region, the dunes cover even the light poles. Many have left, but there are others who have no intention of leaving their house and spend the day cleaning the essential parts. Sand storms are common in the area between the end of April and November, but this year they are especially invasive and no protection seems sufficient.

Astana () – In the Aktyubinsk region of Kazakhstan, there are about 20 villages – such as Zyltyr – where the sand from the dunes has buried the houses and all other buildings, and even covers the electricity poles. It also prevents people from leaving their homes because they are in danger of being swept away by the eddies, to the point that residents turned to local authorities for help.

In Zyltyr the population consists of about a hundred families and lives mainly by raising and herding sheep. Now they can’t even cultivate a vegetable garden due to the gusts of sand in summer, especially due to the drought of the last few months. To the southeast of the village are some fields of buckwheat and other wild herbs, fenced off with barbed wire so that the owners are not confused, such as Ramazan and Uays, who recounted their difficulties on Radio Azattyk.

They were the two who presented a request for help to the regional administration and raised funds among the inhabitants to place some protections in the fields, trying to find the sectors where something can still be grown. Shrubs that are struggling to grow, and cannot be reached by animals, may provide minimal defense against advancing quicksand. The whole life of the village tries to organize itself on the side where the wind does not blow, which usually comes from the southeast.

Many have left, but there are others who have no intention of leaving their homes, like Ermekbaj Akhetov, who lives in the far south with his youngest son. The sand surpasses even the protections, and continuously invades its field, also suffocating the well for the channeling. Ermekbaj looks at the dunes accumulated around his house and humorously calls them “our Dubai”.

From a distance you can only see the roofs of the houses, and those who are not used to it have great difficulty walking on the unstable sand. You cannot wear shoes, because they immediately fill with sand, and you have to walk barefoot on the hot sand, trying to protect your eyes and ears from the eddies. Akhetov warns against “stepping on the pantry”, which has been completely covered by sand, and distinguishes his from those of other inhabitants, especially that of the aksakal Maman, the old village headman who has been destroyed the stable, the garage and the summer cabin.

The day goes by removing the sand from the most necessary parts of the structures and moving it with buckets and wheelbarrows, at least to be able to enter and leave the house. You have to call relatives and neighbors when you can’t do it alone, says another Zyltyr resident, Zenis Mysyrova, so “basically we don’t do anything but shovel sand, that’s our only job.”

In these regions sandstorms are quite common. They start in late April and continue through November, but this year they have been particularly invasive, and no amount of fencing or protection is enough to defend people and animals. People are tired of talking and complaining only about this, because hardly anyone listens to them. “We have a saying: Ayta Ayta altajdy, Žamal apaj kartajdy” [Žamal-apaj se ha vuelto vieja hablando continuamente de Altaj], a way of saying that it is useless to always repeat the same stories, explains Zenis. With great effort, his family managed to dig a well in the middle of a defensive wall, which seems to resist at least a little sand.

Among all the inhabitants they made a collection and planted around the well about 200 young seedlings of herbs necessary for survival, and they all pray that the bushes can take root. In order not to waste water, plastic bottles with holes have been placed under each stem to water them without losing a drop on the arid earth.