Excerpts from the transcript:
Meeting on emergency relief in the Far East
Mikhail Mishustin: Good afternoon, colleagues. Good morning to all those who have
joined us from Moscow
and other regions.
We are holding this meeting on the
President’s instruction. We will talk about our actions in emergencies and
efforts to counter fires and floods. This year, they have taken place in many
parts of the world. We are seeing this and hearing about them in the news. It
is possible to predict natural disasters but not to avoid them. That said, it
is very important to protect people.
It is calm now on Sakhalin Island,
albeit such problems are not rare in the Far East.
Therefore, we decided not to delay our discussion and to hold a meeting at the
first opportunity.
Natural disasters do significant
economic damage. Literally, last week, on 23 July, a branch of the
Trans-Siberian Railway was washed out and a bridge destroyed in the Trans-Baikal
area.
Over two weeks ago, there were
serious floods in four regions of the Far East – the Trans-Baikal
Territory, the Khabarovsk Territory,
the Amur Region and the Jewish Autonomous Region. They affected dozens of residential
areas and hundreds of houses, many of which had garden plots. Regrettably, thousands of people have been identified as those affected. About 800 km of transport infrastructure, bridges and roads were disrupted.
Over
40,000 hectares of farmland sustained heavy damage.
Search-and-rescue and social services
continue working. People have received the assistance they need. Now the material
damage is being assessed with a view to paying compensation. I understand that precise
calculations are important, but I would still ask all services and regional
leaders to try to expedite this process. Reduce the red tape so that people who
have already lost much won’t have to rush around for documents and waste their
time in endless queues.
Another important topic we will discuss
at today’s meeting is fighting wildfires.
Meeting on emergency relief in the Far East
The situation in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) remains complicated. The
Government has already allocated an additional almost 400 million roubles for
firefighting. In all, we earmarked about 3 billion roubles for this purpose
this year.
We must step up the use of aircraft
equipment in extinguishing fires in Yakutia. It is necessary to always have
enough fuel for aircraft and fire trucks.
I would like to ask regional governors to do all they
can to help disaster victims. I would also like to ask you to personally
monitor this task.
We have to do a lot and as quickly as possible. As you
understand, in such situations the main thing is to act promptly because human
lives are at stake.
My deputy, Yury Trutnev, will deal with this issue, in
part, as a member of the Government Commission on Disaster Relief in the Far East. Its lineup has already been approved.
Now I would like to say a few words about the
priorities on which we must focus.
First, it is necessary to pay compensation to people
whose houses or apartments were damaged or deemed uninhabitable. This money will
be spent on repairs and the purchase or construction of new housing.
Second, we must rebuild the infrastructure, roads,
bridges and utility networks.
We must not forget about emergency prevention
measures. It is necessary to speed up the construction of water control
facilities in the Jewish Autonomous Region, as well as in the Khabarovsk, Trans-Baikal and Primorye
territories. About half of them, some 27 km, have already been completed, and this
made it possible to protect many people from flooding and prevent heavy damage
to the infrastructure of the regions. Over 30 km still have to be built. It is important
for people to feel safe and not worry about future misfortunes.
Of course, it is necessary to provide necessary support
for a number of sectors, including agribusiness, and residents of rural areas who
have lost their garden harvests. We must provide the funds for helping those affected
in this regard as well.
Representatives of the Far Eastern Federal District where
these disasters took place are also present at our meeting via videoconference.
I would like to hear an update on the work to restore the destroyed section of the
Trans-Siberian Railway and fulfil the President’s instruction.
Let us move to our discussion.
Mr Zinichev will give the main report on flood relief
efforts in the Far East and assistance for the
victims.
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