Baku opens shelters for people to mitigate frosts

In the context of anomalously frosty weather for Azerbaijan and snowfalls, starting February 10, Baku opened five temporary shelters aimed to protect people from the frost.

At night on February 8, the temperature in Baku dropped down to minus 10 degrees Celsius – the lowest temperature for more than a century of scientific climate observations in Azerbaijan.

The shelters are special tents, where the needy people are provided with three meals a day, overnight accommodation and required medical care.

The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was told at the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection of Azerbaijan that they are intended for homeless people, street children, those who arrive from the countryside and are unable to get back home due to bad weather, as well as those who work in the open air.

The shelters are opened in five districts of Baku in the busiest and crowded locations – near shopping malls and subway stations. Within the first 24 hours after opening 14 persons addressed there asking to let them in for the night.

Over the past ten days, according to a source from the local Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) of Azerbaijan, three homeless men died in Baku from frostbite.