resistanceUS President Vladimir Putin described the degree of natural disasters in his country as unprecedented. According to Interfax news agency, the head of state said on Saturday that the authorities in these areas must be prepared to take people to safety when necessary. “First of all, it is to save people’s lives and health and their property.”
In view of the devastating forest fires, Putin warned the elderly and patients of the dangers of smoking. In addition, the destruction of coniferous and other forests that are important to the global climate must be minimized. He said that plans should also be drawn up to rebuild destroyed and damaged houses.
On Saturday, the Forest Protection Bureau reported 252 fires across the country with a total area of 4.2 million hectares. This is roughly equivalent to the area of Switzerland. Most of the fires occurred in the Yakutia Republic in eastern Siberia. For several weeks, drought and high winds have helped the fire spread in sparsely populated areas. The authorities described the situation as “quite difficult.” The emergency services are currently working to prevent the fire from spreading to 11 villages. It said that for this purpose, more extensive fire belts have been installed. Many houses have been burnt down. The firefighting aircraft is in use.
Floods along the Black Sea
According to the authorities, at Yakutsk Airport, about 4,800 kilometers from Moscow, the second runway is now being used to transport more aircraft to the area. Due to heavy smoke, the take-off and landing of the passenger plane was affected. Hundreds of villages and dozens of cities are suffering.
In southern Russia, after heavy rains, flooding occurred along the Black Sea coast. According to reports, floods have also occurred in the Far East of the country.
Putin said: “This shows once again how important it is for us to focus and systematically address climate and environmental issues.” He recently announced a substantial reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. Russia is particularly difficult to deal with the consequences of the melting of permafrost. In the past few years, forest fires have occurred frequently in the summer months.
most burn In Russia, according to official information, they will not be deleted because they are located in remote areas and will not threaten settlements and infrastructure. In addition, the fire fighting costs there are too high. According to the Forest Protection Department, more than 9,500 people across the country are fighting the fire. Most fires can only be extinguished with heavy rain.
