Report published in La Cross, La Presse, La Tribune de Genève and Le Soir August 2, 2010.
Mokhovoe, Moscow Region - drained by more than one month's heat wave almost no rain, tens of thousands of hectares of forest and peat fires are prey for a week in Russia. Entire villages were razed. Our collaborator visited Mokhovoe, 150 km southeast of Moscow , where villagers were forced to defend themselves from the heat, lack of help from authorities.
When the flames started to advance on Mokhovoe village located 150 km southeast of Moscow, Thursday noon, Beliakova Lyubov and her neighbors are praying out in the dusty streets, Orthodox icons by hand. "In five minutes the air became black as night. The earth was burning beneath our feet. We realized that it did not bode well, "said the retired accountant. The cross with the inscription "May God protect you" planted at the entrance of the village could not save him. Let alone the Russian authorities. The 150 inhabitants of Mokhovoe never been warned of the approach of the fire and no action was taken to evacuate.
Left to themselves, surrounded by a high forest and drained peatlands in Soviet times for fuel, villagers had to get by. "The men rushed to the edge of the forest to cut trees to prevent fire from advancing," says Beliakova. Nothing to do. Within minutes, the village no longer existed. One apartment building was untouched by flames. Twelve houses and three buildings were destroyed. Those who owned a car were able to escape. But in this poor village, populated mainly retirees, some did not have that luxury.
"They are suffocating in the cellar. Maria Mourougova shows the small concrete shelter in the garden vegetables roasted to its neighbors. They were six to hide and were trapped when the flames razed almost all gardens that fed the village. Born in
Mokhovoe Maria Mourougova, Engineer of 34 years, now lives in the town of Kolomna, 50 miles and a ferry crossing the village. "I managed to come in time to save my mother. But why people who must care for our safety they have done nothing ? "She rages. "Under the Soviet regime was better organized. "It shows a building inhabited by two old ladies. "They wanted to flee into the forest burned and died," she advance, although, officially, the two women are among seven villagers still missing. Further, two disabled people who have died in their basement, unable to stand. "The engineers have not only occupied the forest and left to burn the village," complains Ms. Mourougova, supported by other residents. An ill-equipped firefighter death is yet wanting to protect the village.
Putin visit
During a visit on Friday in another village ravaged near Nizhny Novgorod, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin was greeted by a hysterical crowd accusing the government of inaction. The strong man of the country laid the blame on local government, demanding the resignation of politicians "to whom public trust is called into doubt." Vladimir Putin also promised to quadruple aid provided to victims of wildfires, to 200,000 rubles (€ 5,000) per family. "With this sum, we can just rebuild the fence of our garden," Lyubov believes Beliakova, who did not have insurance, like other villagers. Beside her, the embers still smoldering from Mokhovoe, men are busy digging up piles of charred metal. "Soon, scrap metal thieves will pass," said one of them. "And it is better to already have the equipment when we rebuild rather than buy. But do we rebuild Mokhovoe? Despite Putin's pledges to rebuild the villages affected "by this winter, residents are skeptical that the authorities will want to invest in their village, already aging and gloomy before the fire. Agricultural Mokhovoe never really recovered from the fall of communism and the closure of the factory on the corner, like thousands of other villages in the country. And
to rebuild, yet will he go down that aid to the victims. Saturday, Kirill Orthodox patriarch called on officials not to divert funds intended for victims, a common practice in the country, plagued by corruption. "The money will be paid to people is sacred money. Nobody raises their hands on this money because rich on the misfortunes of others is a great sin before God, "he said in a televised speech.
At Mokhovoe, people prefer to rely on their own strength instead of waiting for a hypothetical government assistance, which could be difficult to claim because of the bureaucracy. "Anyway, it's impossible that they give us a new home (elsewhere). There's already a housing shortage in the country, so they probably put us in community residences, "says Beliakova, resigned. His apartment was avoided by the flames, but no gas, no water, no electricity and no garden, not to return. The inhabitants of
Mokhovoe are not the only ones to have made homeless in recent days in Russia. Some 1,875 houses were destroyed by fire in fourteen regions of the country, mostly near the Volga. The Ministry of Regions said that 117 million would be needed for reconstruction.
A provisional toll, 30 people died in fires that ravaged hundreds of thousands of hectares of forests around the country. Yesterday, authorities in the Far East have announced that the flames also earned their region. Despite the 240,000 people mobilized to fight against the fires, the situation is not improving. Yesterday morning, 770 homes Fire was active in the country. The day before, there were two times less.
The weather forecast does not leave room for hope. The heatwave that hit never seen Russia for over a month, with daytime temperatures rarely dipping below 30 degrees over much of the territory is expected to continue at least a week. No significant precipitation is expected to come to calm the flames. Dried, Russia burns.
a heatwave UNPRECEDENTED
In 160 years of weather observation, Russia had never known such heat wave. Last Thursday, the thermometer reached 38.2 degrees Moscow, beating the previous record of 37.2 established ... three days earlier. Last week, smoke from peat fires on the outskirts of the capital came to envelop the megalopolis of 15 million inhabitants, making the air difficult to breathe. According to the observatory on air quality in Moscow, air pollution exceeded ten times the standard Wednesday. The fog has finally cleared up Friday, but hundreds of towns and villages in the Moscow region still live in a dangerous cloud of smoke. Strangely, the Russian authorities did not report deaths resulting from heat and smoke. In 2003, a similar heat wave in Europe had yet caused about 15,000 deaths in France, mostly elderly vulnerable. To beat the heat, everyone has a cure for grandmother. Even Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who has advised the Russians to drink hot tea. "It promotes sweating and helps to bear the heat stroke," he said. But another "cure" is more popular among Russians: alcohol, however, known for its dehydrating properties. In two months, nearly 2500 people drowned in Russia, due to excessive heat pushing the Russians to swim in bodies of water, often in spite of prohibitions and danger. Last year, nearly three-quarters of drownings recorded in the country had been caused by alcohol. Other heatwave victims: farmers. Nearly a third of cultivated land in Russia have been affected by drought. Twenty-three regions have declared a state of emergency. Third largest exporter of wheat in the world, Russia should produce 20% less this year, while prices may increase by one third.
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