Kazakhstan: Blackout in Almaty · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Last Wednesday, April 15, due to damage of the high-voltage power line Toktogul-Frunze (the largest line in the Kyrgyz Republic), most enterprises and even strategic buildings in towns of the northern Kyrgyzstan and southern Kazakhstan were in blackout. The supply of gas and hot water has been suspended, ATMs were not working, later most Kazakhstani websites and radio stations were switched off. Mobile telephony kept on working.
Almaty has been cut off the electricity: dark streets, traffic lights not working, rain, accidents… The whole downtown was in blackout, most micro-districts also. One of our journalists even found a completely dark maternity hospital and recorded an interview with the doctor, writes pulemetchizza [ru].
Graveric posts panoramic pictures of Almaty in normal time and during blackout [ru]
Ehot says [ru]:
This time the situation was much worse than during the previous blackout. I personally saw the TV tower at that moment – it ran out of electricity completely, including the window of control cab – and then gradually illuminated again. This means a very serious problem. I'd like to thank road police for efficiently organized traffic management.
Programmilla tried to find news about the blackout [ru]:
Nothing. Only the Internet forum had a thread about it, but no details. I don't understand, is Almaty a big city or a village? Why there had been no information?
However, Almatian bloggers have always been known for their irony. Sav-age notes [ru]:
Energy services of Almaty took closely to heart (though a bit late) the recommendation to join the Earth Hour
Roxichka thinks positively [ru]:
Blackout is very romantic and sobering. We are too used to virtual life of Internet and television, and sometimes absence of light can be even joyful.
However, she admits the advantages of electricity:
light was turned on again right on time – before the start of Porto-ManUnited football match!
The conclusion of megakhuimyak is as follows [ru]:
It was known in November last year that Toktogul [reservoir] does not have enough water and will lack capacity this spring. It was known in September last year that our power grids are extremely depreciated, which means they are very vulnerable to accidents. But it became known only yesterday that nobody in Kyrgyzstan or Kazakhstan did anything to handle this situation.
And restec considers [ru] that this blackout -
is a good reason to develop our autonomous system of electricity supply, most desirably, using alternative energy.
Also posted on neweurasia