The Russian Ministry of Civil Defence, Emergency Situations and Disaster Relief has summed up the results of a large-scale relief operation in the Far East regions.
The Government Commission on Emergency Prevention, Response and Fire Safety cancelled the emergency situation regime and the federal response level.
The main outcome of the coordinated efforts is that not a single person has died and the material losses have been minimised.
Due to severe weather and flooding conditions, 338 towns and villages in 74 municipalities, including over 13,500 houses, were flooded in six regions in the Far East of the Russian Federation. Over 135,000 people were affected, and about 610 social facilities, transport, power, communication and agricultural facilities were damaged.
In order to secure the safety of the population, the Government Commission introduced in advance the emergency situation regime and the federal response level on 7 August 2013.
The management system of the Integrated Emergency Prevention and Response System (RSChS) was promptly organised under the Emergencies Ministry’s National Crisis Management Centre with the participation of the regional commissions on emergency prevention, response and fire safety.
To solve issues in the emergency situation area, an RSChS division was formed comprising over 45,000 personnel with over 7,500 pieces of equipment and over 1,000 boats and aircraft.
For urgent protection, more than 32,000 people were evacuated, including over 10,000 children. To accommodate the evacuees, 265 temporary facilities were set up which hosted over 6,500 people. All the facilities provided round-the-clock hot food and medical and psychological help. Over 3,600 children from the affected regions were sent to children’s recreational camps in other regions of the country.
A network of mobile hospitals and medical and veterinary staff was set up in the flooded areas. People were provided with medications and medical devices. The sanitary-epidemiological and veterinary environments were kept under control.
As the situation deteriorated, the engineering protection systems were perfected and created anew to protect populated areas, economic and utilities facilities, and socially important objects. Dams and storm drainage systems were built as well. Following the flood peak, large-scale relief and reconstruction works were launched in the towns and villages.
Overall, over 300 relief brigades worked to clean and restore over 110 social facilities and over 6,000 private homesteads, pumping out flood water from over 1,000 houses, clearing 1,200 km of roads and restoring and reinforcing river banks.
To render material and financial support to the flood victims, over 13.8 billion roubles were allocated from Russia’s Reserve Fund. The payments of material support to the victims have been largely completed. Compensation payments related to the loss of property and housing repairs are being carried out under special monitoring.
Measures are under way on deliveries of materials and humanitarian aid as part of assisting the affected population. More than 20,000 metric tonnes of food, machines and equipment have been delivered. Over 15,000 relief workers and specialists have started restoring the utilities systems.
The Emergencies Ministry has arranged a set of rehabilitation and health measures for the staff. All the relief operations participants received letters of recognition from the ministry.
In the course of the emergency situation relief, constant interaction and information exchange was organised with the People’s Republic of China, other countries and international organisations.
Thanks to early urgent measures and the high professionalism of the specialists, the living conditions of the population are quickly returning to normal, as is the work of social facilities and utilities systems.
The Emergencies Ministry is set to continue its work on increasing the preparedness of the RSChS bodies and units, preparing for the 2014 floods, as well as improving the system of protecting the population and territories from natural and man-made emergency situations by using cutting-edge approaches and technologies in the implementation of the Far East Development Programme. Relief measures are being pursued to cope with the aftermath of the flooding in accordance with Russian President’s Executive Order No.693 dated 31 August 2013.
