Moscow chokes as fires rage across the nation
Source: Agencies |
August 7, 2010, Saturday
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Print Edition
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Dense clouds of acrid smoke from peat and forest fires choked Russia's capital yesterday, seeping into homes and offices, diverting planes and prompting Muscovites to wear surgical masks to filter the foul air.
Air pollution in Moscow surged to five times normal levels in the city of 10.5 million.
"It feels like I'm in a burning house and I can't escape," said Yelena Petrenko, 32, who used a handkerchief to cover her mouth because drugstores had run out of face masks.
Officials urged Muscovites to stay indoors because of dangerous levels of carbon monoxide and fine particles in the air. Weather forecasts said the smoke would persist until Monday.
On Red Square, smoke shrouded the onion domes of St Basil's Cathedral. The weekly changing of the guard ceremony in the Kremlin was cancelled.
NASA satellite images showed a 3,000-kilometer smoke cloud covering swathes of European Russia.
The deadliest wildfires in nearly four decades have killed at least 52 people and left more than 3,500 homeless as entire villages of wooden homes burned down, official figures say.
The true toll from the smoke and heat wave may be much higher. The Interfax news agency quoted an "informed source" as saying death rates in Moscow surged nearly 30 percent in July.
Mayor Yuri Luzhkov has been silent on the smoke engulfing his city. A spokeswoman said he had left on holiday earlier in the week.
One of the world's top grains producers, Russia has announced a temporary ban on exports after crops were ravaged by the dry weather. The news sent world wheat prices soaring.
Despite a huge effort involving more than 160,000 people fighting fires, authorities appeared to be losing the battle.
President Dmitry Medvedev visited an ambulance station in Moscow yesterday and expressed solidarity with smoke-choked Muscovites.
"I woke up this morning and looked around -- it's a monstrous situation," Medvedev said. "Have patience, because I hope this will all end."
Russia's media outlets have been at pains to show a vigorous government effort to fight the blazes and have avoided detailed reporting on the hazards to health.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has toured fire-stricken regions promising generous compensation to residents and ordering officials to step up efforts to extinguish the blazes.
The government has warned that the fires could pose a nuclear threat by releasing radioactive particles buried in trees and plants by the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster.
A senior Emergencies Ministry official said the most difficult fire situations were in the regions ringing Moscow and Nizhny Novgorod, including the closed town of Sarov, home to a nuclear arms facility.
With visibility low, Russia's aviation authority said at least 60 planes had been diverted to as far away as Ukraine from Moscow's busy airports.
Flights and trains out of Moscow were booked solid as residents tried to flee the smoke.
Air pollution in Moscow surged to five times normal levels in the city of 10.5 million.
"It feels like I'm in a burning house and I can't escape," said Yelena Petrenko, 32, who used a handkerchief to cover her mouth because drugstores had run out of face masks.
Officials urged Muscovites to stay indoors because of dangerous levels of carbon monoxide and fine particles in the air. Weather forecasts said the smoke would persist until Monday.
On Red Square, smoke shrouded the onion domes of St Basil's Cathedral. The weekly changing of the guard ceremony in the Kremlin was cancelled.
NASA satellite images showed a 3,000-kilometer smoke cloud covering swathes of European Russia.
The deadliest wildfires in nearly four decades have killed at least 52 people and left more than 3,500 homeless as entire villages of wooden homes burned down, official figures say.
The true toll from the smoke and heat wave may be much higher. The Interfax news agency quoted an "informed source" as saying death rates in Moscow surged nearly 30 percent in July.
Mayor Yuri Luzhkov has been silent on the smoke engulfing his city. A spokeswoman said he had left on holiday earlier in the week.
One of the world's top grains producers, Russia has announced a temporary ban on exports after crops were ravaged by the dry weather. The news sent world wheat prices soaring.
Despite a huge effort involving more than 160,000 people fighting fires, authorities appeared to be losing the battle.
President Dmitry Medvedev visited an ambulance station in Moscow yesterday and expressed solidarity with smoke-choked Muscovites.
"I woke up this morning and looked around -- it's a monstrous situation," Medvedev said. "Have patience, because I hope this will all end."
Russia's media outlets have been at pains to show a vigorous government effort to fight the blazes and have avoided detailed reporting on the hazards to health.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has toured fire-stricken regions promising generous compensation to residents and ordering officials to step up efforts to extinguish the blazes.
The government has warned that the fires could pose a nuclear threat by releasing radioactive particles buried in trees and plants by the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster.
A senior Emergencies Ministry official said the most difficult fire situations were in the regions ringing Moscow and Nizhny Novgorod, including the closed town of Sarov, home to a nuclear arms facility.
With visibility low, Russia's aviation authority said at least 60 planes had been diverted to as far away as Ukraine from Moscow's busy airports.
Flights and trains out of Moscow were booked solid as residents tried to flee the smoke.
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