Moynaq: The Aral Sea Disaster

During the 60's Moynaq became one of the largest ports in the Aral Sea in the former Soviet republic of Uzbekistan. However, the Pharaonic irrigation works undertaken by the USSR in those years began to cause a rapid drying of the Aral, the fourth largest inland sea in the world. In the mid 70's the water level had dropped at an alarming rate and early 80's port had become a death trap for ships had been moored there. Thirty years later, and although the sea has retreated inland further than 150 kilometers, the people of Moynaq are still waiting for the miracle.