How panic is born: emergency in Ekibastuz, but no information for the media

On November 27, at 01.30 AM, an accident occurred in Ekibastuz, that led to the stoppage of boilers at the Ekibastuz thermal power plant. Residents of the city were left without heat in the cold.

Since  night, journalists have been waiting for information about the incident. However, Bibigul Imangalieva, the press secretary of the akimat (mayor’s office) of Ekibastuz,  explained that she would give information only when the head of the press service of the akim of the region arrives in the city to approve the message before publishing it. By 2 PM, the journalists had not received any information from official sources.

So far, media has no information about how many houses in the city remain without heat, what the situation in the locality is, how social facilities - hospitals, maternity hospitals, etc. will be provided with heat. In fact, there is an information vacuum at the time of the emergency. But we all know that information vacuum is always filled with panic and fakes…