Emergencies Minister Bozhko learned about Almaty quake from vice prime minister

    Kazakhstan’s Emergency Situations Minister Vladimir Bozhko learned about the recent earthquake in Almaty from the vice prime minister, Tengrinews.kz reports citing Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Regional Development Bakytzhan Sagintayev as saying at a meeting of the Emergency Situations Ministry.
    “Of course, everyone is concerned over the notification system. I believe there is a fair amount of work that has to be done. Take the recent earthquake in the Almaty Oblast, for example. I found out about it from my relatives. I called Vladimir Bozhko, and he didn’t know about it. The system works in such a way that information gets to the minister later than Twitter,” Sagintayev said at the meeting.
    He noted the ministry's earthquake response operations have improved compared to the previous year but still needed improvement.
    “We have to do something about this. Of course, there is a problem with cellular connections. Vladimir Bozhko, this issue has to be taken under control. We have to think it over,” Sagintayev said.
    Besides, Sagintayev stressed the need to provide information on earthquakes from local sources rather than foreign.
    “There is another issue here. Many (in Kazakhstan) are using information from the websites of U.S. seismological institutes. We have to try and become the first source fosr providing information to our people,” Sagintayev said, according to www.tengrinews.kz.