EMERCOM - The Ministry of Emergency Situations:

EMERCOM Agency was creat­ed in 1994 by the Russian Ministry of Civil Defense and Emergencies according to the Decree of the Pre­sident of the Russian Federation and the Decision of the Government of the Russian Federation.
According to an EMERCOM publication, the Ministry is an agency of Federal Executive Power with the following tasks:

• developing proposals and initiatives in the sphere of State policy on issues within the Ministry's competence;

• managing the Civil Defence and Search and Rescue Service in the Russian Federation;

• providing for the functioning and further development of the Russian System of Disaster Management (RSDM);

• directing activities aimed at eliminating the consequences of large-scale disasters, catastrophes and other emergencies;

• conducting special submarine activities;

• supervising the use of finance resources allocated to the Government for disaster management and response;

• organizing the training of the population, and governing agencies and the RSDM forces for disaster management and response;

• and organizing international cooperation in the fields of the Ministry's competency.

Current Head of Ministry is Vladimir Puchkov, who was appointed in May 17, 2012, replacing Sergey Shoygu, who was the first Emergencies Minister and was served as a minister for sixteen years.

EMERCOM’s helicopter will head to Serbia in August to carry out wildfire suppression

EMERCOM’s helicopter will head to Serbia in August to carry out wildfire suppression. The vehicle will be performing tasks in the area of preventing the fire propagation in August and September 2012, RIA Novosti reports with reference to Tanjug.

According to the head of the division of Serbian Ministry of Internal Affairs responsible for emergency response, Predrag Maric, the Russian helicopter will based in the city of Nis, located in the southern part of Serbia.

Serbian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) reported last week that it is going to request Russia’s assistance in the area of wildfire suppression. Serbia does not have its own special fire-fighting aviation. The light helicopters owned by army and MIA along with agricultural aircraft are usually used for these purposes.

According to Maric, the situation in Serbia in the area of wild fires has improved on Wednesday due to hailstorms.

"Of course, the rain has helped us – it decreased the number of fires twice as compared to the last 5-6 days", - said the representative of Serbian MIA. The meteorologists have forecasted a temperature from 16 to 31 Celsius for Wednesday (depending on the region of the country). Thermometers in Serbia have registered a temperature of 40 Celsius earlier this summer.

The aviation of EMERCOM has also helped Serbia before. The air group formed by Be-200 aircraft and Mi-26T helicopter was based in Serbia in 2011. It is intended to send Ka-32 helicopter to Serbia this year.

http://www.ruaviation.com/news/2012/7/27/1123/

Russia aids Serbia to combat blaze

Russia’s Emergencies Ministry has sent Ilyushin-76 plane to Serbia’s city of Nis to assist the country in fighting against foreign fires. The plane joined Russia’s Beriev Be-200 amphibious aircraft.

Southern Europe is now engulfed by forest fires. Serbia alone has 200 fires which are difficult to combat due to high temperatures in the region.

http://english.ruvr.ru/2012_08_24/Russia-gives-Nicaragua-six-field-hospitals/

Russia gives Nicaragua six field hospitals

The Russian Emergencies Ministry has handed over to Nicaragua six field hospitals to cement the Latin American country’s system of civil defence.

The handover ceremony took place on Thursday, and was led by Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega.

He personally inspected one of the hospitals and spoke highly of its equipment.

Russia is providing assistance for Nicaragua in the framework of last year’s bilateral agreement that seeks to promote the system of averting and fighting the effects of natural disasters.

http://en.ria.ru/russia/20121101/177100926.html

Russia Sends Plane with Humanitarian Aid to Storm-Hit Cuba



A Russian Emergency Situations Ministry aircraft with humanitarian cargo took off from the Moscow Region to hurricane-hit Cuba, the ministry said on Thursday.

“The Emergencies Ministry’s Ilyushin Il-76 aircraft with 32 metric tons of humanitarian cargo took off from the Ramenskoye airport at 23:45 Moscow time on Wednesday [19:45 GMT] to the Santiago de Cuba airport in Cuba, which was hit by hurricane Sandy,” the ministry said in a statement.

The Cuban national headquarters on the civil defense earlier said that at least ten people were killed by Sandy hurricane in the Santiago de Cuba province. The storm also destroyed tens of thousands of hectares of cane and banana plantations and partly or completely ruined over 60,000 houses.

The Russian Emergencies Ministry reported that it intended to send a total of three aircraft with rescuers and humanitarian aid to Cuba.

Russia delivers relief supplies to Mali

A Russian Emergencies Ministry plane has delivered a 30-ton humanitarian cargo to Mali.

The relief supplies included blankets, tents, canned goods and other essentials.

Mali has been swept by a humanitarian crisis since a military coup on March 22nd, when President Amadou Toure was forced out of power and a civil war ensued.

http://english.ruvr.ru/2012_11_03/Russia-delivers-relief-supplies-to-Mali/

EMERCOM will take delivery of new Tu-214 and Sukhoi SuperJet 100 aircraft in 2014

New Tu-214, Il-76MD-90A and Sukhoi SuperJet 100 aircraft will join the fleet of EMERCOM in 2014, RIA Novosti reports with reference to the head of the ministry, Vladimir Puchkov.

"The renewal of EMERCOM’s fleet is a tremendous task and the president has already approved all the plans and programs required to accomplish it", — the minister said.

Puchkov said that EMERCOM must have an advanced aircraft fleet including upgraded Sukhoi SuperJet 100 intended for evacuation, Tu-214 – for evacuation from remote regions and far-abroad countries. The ministry’s Il-76 aircraft will gradually be replaced by Il-76MD-90A jets.

According to EMERCOM, a program for renewal of the ministry’s fleet for 2011-2015 period has been elaborated. This program requires 43 billion rubles of investments. The share of advanced aircraft in the ministry’s fleet will reach 80% by 2015.

In particular, the ministry plans to purchase 30 aircraft, including 20 Mi-8 and Ka-32 helicopters, eight Be-200 amphibian aircraft and 2 An-148 jets (medevac version). Over 8.2 billion rubles were allocated for purchasing new rescue equipment and vehicles in 2011 (and 15 billion rubles – in 2012).

http://en.mchs.ru/Forces_and_Facilities

Nice work George for keeping us up to date.

Viktor wrote:Nice work George for keeping us up to date.

thanks friend!

Russian Defense Ministry to Boost Humanitarian Aid Efforts

MOSCOW, April 8 (RIA Novosti) – The equipment and transportation capacities of the Russian Defense Ministry should be made available to the Emergency Ministry in providing humanitarian aid to foreign countries for disaster relief, the Russian government stated.

The announcement was made in an explanatory note to a new draft law published on the government’s website for legislative initiatives.

The letter introducing the bill said that previous regulations entered into force 14 years ago and were outdated, requiring serious revision.

The new draft law states that the expenses incurred by the provision of equipment and transportation by the Defense Ministry in delivering humanitarian cargos overseas will be paid for by supplemental funds allotted by the government.

According to earlier reports by the Emergency Ministry, 22 countries in 2013 received Russian humanitarian and technical aid, including the US, China and Syria. The humanitarian efforts saw 1,200 Russian citizens evacuated from affected areas.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov earlier said Russian aid to other countries often remains invisible as it is channeled through international programs and multilateral bodies.

The country hopes for greater recognition of Russia’s contribution in solving the problems that low-income countries are facing, Lavrov said.

Moscow has previously directed humanitarian aid to crisis-hit Syria, accusing the US of encouraging extremists who are financing terrorism and arming terrorist groups.

Spending on foreign aid by Russia reached $458 million in 2012, while the world’s major aid donors spent $125.6 billion, according to the Russian Finance Ministry.

Russia's EMERCOM responds first to assist Serbian flood victims

The Russian Emergency Situations Ministry (EMERCOM) has deployed emergency response forces and equipment to Serbia after a decision was made by the Government of the Russian Federation initiated at the request of the Government of the Republic of Serbia after the county was hit by devastating unprecedented flooding reports EMERCOM. According to EMERCOM rescuers with the air search and rescue unit "Centrospas" and from the high risk rescue group "Leader" have been deployed to assist the Serbian people as they struggle to deal with the aftermath and continuing flooding which has seen almost the entire country mercilessly submerged under water.


EMERCOM reports that an unspecified number of the ministry’s rapid response Ilyushin 76 (IL-76) aircraft took off from the Russian Emergencies Ministry’s airfield in the Moscow region city of Ramenskoye. According to EMERCOM (at the moment of writing) more than 70 of the best-trained rescuers along with high-tech rescue equipment, including wetsuits, diving and special equipment were onboard, although that number will definitely go up.

The rescue teams will also be taking motorboats and are equipped for completely autonomous rescue operations in the flood zone for a period of more than 15 days. Hence constant contact and reinforcement will not be necessary as the rescuers set out on their task to assist as many people as they possible can in a volatile environment where time is of the essence.

Specialists from the Republic of Serbia’s Russian-Serbian Humanitarian Center are directly involved in rescue operations. One of the center’s tasks is to eliminate the effects of natural disasters on the territory of Serbia and other Balkan countries. The center has already mobilized with water pumps and mobile power stations in order to assist the flood stricken population.

Russian First Responders First to Respond, thousands evacuated

The Russian Federation has been the first country to respond during the dire time of need of the Serbian people with many Serbians dismayed by the almost complete lack of response from the European Union and other countries. EMERCOM continues to deploy equipment and personnel as the magnitude of the devastation begins to grow clearer.

So far Russian rescuers are credited with saving thousands of lives with one operation seeing almost 400 people rescued including at least 79 children. According to B92 Russian rescuers were immediately deployed to Obrenovac, “… where they were met by Serbian PM Aleksandar Vučić, ministers of the interior and defense, Nebojša Stefanović and Bratislav Gašić, and Russian Ambassador Aleksandr Chepurin.”

As of this writing close to 8,000 people have had to be evacuated, with those numbers continuing to rise as rains continue drenching the Republic and the region. The unprecedented flooding has affected the entire country and the neighboring states. Videos have already been uploaded to YouTube with pleas for help as the magnitude of the flooding continues to affect millions.
Read more: http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2014_05_17/Russia-responds-first-to-assist-Serbian-flood-victims-2951/

Russian Emergencies Ministry to Hold World Congress on Risk in 2015

BEIJING, August 11 (RIA Novosti) – Russia’s Ministry of Emergency Situations is to hold the World Congress on Risk in Moscow in 2015, the head of the ministry, Vladimir Puchkov, said Monday.

“New threats to humans are being formed by the transformation and alteration of existing natural, man-induced, biological and social risks. In this context the Ministry of Emergency Situations is planning to hold the World Congress on Risk in Moscow in May 2015,” said Puchkov at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum of emergency officials in Beijing.

The minister added that Russian leadership has already made a decision on the organization of the congress and invited all APEC members to attend the event.

Russian Emergencies Ministry begins preparations for 2018 World Cup

NIZHNY NOVGOROD, August 13./ITAR-TASS/. The Russian Emergencies Ministry announced on Wednesday the launch of its preparation works for the 2018 World Cup, which will be held in 11 cities across Russia.

“We are beginning the work today in order to have a full picture of possible problems and risks, of what we have in terms of equipment and gear and of what would be the material and technical basis,” Yury Kovalyov, the director of the ministry’s department for territorial policies, said at a session devoted to the global football tournament’s preparations.

“This is all important for the solution of problems and issues concerning the safety provision in the area of the Russian Emergency Ministry’s responsibility in 11 cities, where the world football championship’s matches will be held,” he said.

Kovalyov said specialists from the ministry conducted identical work before the 2013 Summer Universiade in Russia’s Kazan and 2014 Winter Olympic Games in the Black Sea resort city of Sochi.

“Preparation work in Kazan and Sochi was time-consuming and scrupulous, but yielded certain experience,” he said adding that such work eventually provided for the 2013 Universiade and the 2014 Winter Olympics to be held at a high level in terms of the Emergencies Ministry’s responsibility.

Russia won the bid to host the 2018 World Cup over three years ago in a tight race against the joint bid from England, Portugal and Spain and the joint bid on behalf of Belgium and the Netherlands.

Shortly before Brazil’s fabulous city of Rio de Janeiro dropped the curtains on the 2014 World Cup with the final Germany-Argentina clash on July 13, the baton of the global football tournament’s hosting nations was passed on to Russia.

The symbolic hand-over ceremony of the right to host the World Cup tournament was held at the iconic over 74,700-seat capacity Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro and was attended by FIFA President Sepp Blatter, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Blatter said earlier that he intended to pay a visit to Russia in September to monitor the preparation work for the championship in 2018.

Following an official ceremony held in September 2012 and attended by Blatter, Russia eventually selected 11 out of the earlier proposed 13 cities, excluding Krasnodar and Yaroslavl. The final list of the 2018 World Cup host cities includes Moscow, St. Petersburg, Sochi, Kazan, Saransk, Kaliningrad, Volgograd, Rostov-on-Don, Nizhny Novgorod, Yekaterinburg and Samara.

Russia Becomes Leader in Provision of International Aid – Emergencies Ministry

MOSCOW, August 19 (RIA Novosti) - In the last 20 years Russia has become the world leader in the provision of emergency humanitarian assistance, the Deputy Head of the Russian Emergencies Ministry Vladimir Stepanov said.

The World Humanitarian Day is celebrated this Tuesday. It marks the anniversary of the UN Headquarters bombing in Baghdad in 2003 when 22 people, including UN humanitarian veteran Sergio Vieira de Mello, were killed.

Russia has been actively involved in international humanitarian operations since 1993. During this time, the assistance was provided to the population of nearly 40 countries, including the United States, Cuba, Haiti, Venezuela, Colombia, Chile, Peru, Bolivia, Syria, Libya, Somalia, Kenya, Palestine, Israel, Iraq, Afghanistan, Ukraine, Serbia, Germany, Italy, and Tajikistan. The total volume of delivered humanitarian supplies has exceeded 220 thousand tons.

The Russian Emergencies Ministry cooperates with many international organizations, such as the UN Office for the Organization of Humanitarian Affairs and the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees, the World Food Programme, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Stepanov said.

One of the largest international humanitarian operations, conducted by the ministry was to help the people of Yugoslavia, who suffered from NATO bombing. Russia worked in the battle-torn country together with Switzerland, Greece and Austria in the spring and summer of 1999.

The highest priority for the Emergencies Ministry is currently provision of help to Ukrainian refugees, who arrived in Russia in an attempt to escape the conflict in the east of the country, where Kiev is carrying out military operation against independence supporters. The flow of refugees has increased dramatically since June. According to the latest data by Russian authorities, more than 730,000 Ukrainian citizens have fled the country since the beginning of the conflict.

The ministry established tent camps and temporary accommodation centers (TACs) on the basis of existing educational and cultural institutions, as well as in rest houses, health camps and major sporting facilities. Almost 60 thousand people are currently housed

Russian plane with medics flies to Ebola-stricken Guinea

Russian Emergencies Ministry to get 24 new planes by 2020

MOSCOW, September 08. /ITAR-TASS/. The Russian Emergencies Ministry will get 24 new aircraft by 2020, according to an agreement with the United Aircraft Corporation signed on Monday, Emergencies Minister Vladimir Puchkov said.

Under the agreement, the ministry will get two Sukhoi SuperJet-100 (SSJ100) planes in 2015. It will also buy another six SSJ100’s, six Ilyushin-76 transport planes and ten Be-200 amphibious planes by 2020.

The planes will come complete with medical modules for the evacuation of injured people, control rooms and space monitoring systems.

Eight SSJ100’s will go to air rescue centres created in each of the federal districts.
Puchkov said “these are ambitious plans which will improve our ability to respond [to emergencies] and ensure stable development of the aircraft industry”.

Russian Emergencies Ministry to get 24 new planes by 2020

MOSCOW, September 08. /ITAR-TASS/. The Russian Emergencies Ministry will get 24 new aircraft by 2020, according to an agreement with the United Aircraft Corporation signed on Monday, Emergencies Minister Vladimir Puchkov said.

Under the agreement, the ministry will get two Sukhoi SuperJet-100 (SSJ100) planes in 2015. It will also buy another six SSJ100’s, six Ilyushin-76 transport planes and ten Be-200 amphibious planes by 2020.

The planes will come complete with medical modules for the evacuation of injured people, control rooms and space monitoring systems.

Eight SSJ100’s will go to air rescue centres created in each of the federal districts.

Puchkov said “these are ambitious plans which will improve our ability to respond [to emergencies] and ensure stable development of the aircraft industry”.

EMERCOM signed state contracts for delivery of new indigenous aircraft
Russian Aviaton » Thursday September 11, 2014 09:21 MSK

On September 8th 2014 the Deputy Minister of Russian Federation for Civil Defense, Emergencies and Elimination of Consequences of Natural Disasters, Vladimir Artamonov, and President of United Aircraft Corporation (UAC), Mikhail Pogosyan, signed an agreement to increase the efficiency of using new aviation technologies in the network of emergency response and expand the functional capabilities in terms of using indigenous aircraft to protect and rescue people, press-service of EMERCOM reports.

«The agreement assumes creation of tactical and economic conditions for delivery of 8 Sukhoi SuperJet 100 (SSJ 100) aircraft and 6 upgraded Il-76 transport aircraft to aviation units of EMERCOM in 2016-2025. Moreover, head of Re-Equipment and Contracts Directorate of EMERCOM, Beslan Gogokhia, and President of UAC, Mikhail Pogosyan, signed state contracts. Under these agreements 2 SSJ 100 liners will be delivered to EMERCOM in 2015», - press-service of EMERCOM reports.

In order to use the aviation efficiently in the network of relief and medevac operations carried out in Russia and other countries, the units of EMERCOM must operate state-of-the-art aircraft. The ministry thoroughly analyzed the performance of aircraft manufactured in Russia and foreign countries. On the basis of the ministry’s objectives EMERCOM elaborated performance specifications for production and deliveries of short-haul aircraft, the press-service added.

By means of purchasing SSJ 100 liners the ministry adds state-of-the-art aircraft with a convertible layout to its fleet; these vehicles allow fulfilling all the EMERCOM’s tasks, including: transportation of EMERCOM’s response teams and humanitarian aid to disaster areas; medevac operations (aircraft will be fitted with medical modules meeting the highest standards and allowing medics to provide medical aid to a patient during flight); radiological and chemical reconnaissance (aircraft will be fitted with special equipment – thermal imaging device and dosimeter, which allows monitoring the radiation environment).

«Special search equipment allows searching for ground and surface objects, points of fire outbreak via monitoring of ground and water surface. In order to manage the units of EMERCOM efficiently during operations, the aircraft will be fitted with equipment, which allows controlling the EMERCOM teams as well as holding videoconferences with National Emergency Management Centers (NEMCs) and administrations of regions, where the rescue operation is carried out. Under the signed contract UAC will also deliver ground support, test and control equipment; train flight and maintenance personnel as well as cabin crews of EMERCOM at Zhukovsky-based state-of-the-art training center fitted with cutting-edge simulators and other equipment. The maintenance personnel will be trained to operate the aircraft and prepare it for the flight», - the ministry’s press-service added.

Russia EMERCOM drafting new doctrine of population's defense from man-made disasters

MOSCOW, October 7. /TASS/. Russia's Ministry for Emergency Situations and Civil Defense (EMERCOM) is expected to submit a new doctrine of civil defense in case of manmade disasters and military threats, Izvestia daily said in a report published on Tuesday.

The new doctrine matches today's reality and presupposes comprehensive upgraded protection of the country's population.

"Unlike the doctrine that is in effect now the new one won't presuppose the so-called general evacuation, under which the entire civilian population should walk out of a city on foot in case of approach of enemy forces," Sergey Akatyev, the chief of EMERCOM's department for civil defense and protection of the population told the newspaper.

Analysis of the military conflict occurring nowadays shows combat operations mostly employ high-precision weaponry that does not envision the so-called 'area saturation' with gunfire, bombing, and so on and that is why the new strategy will make emphasis on shelters and other civil defence installations.

"EMERCOM is introducing a new category of installations the protective harbors that will be built in city districts," Akatyev said. "Unlike the old Soviet-era bomb shelters, they won't be aimed at protecting against nuclear strikes but will provide protection against shell fragments and the debris of collapsing buildings."

He indicated that a major change in the civil defence doctrine had been prompted, among other things, by the ongoing developments in eastern Ukraine and particularly in two largest cities in that area, Donetsk and Lugansk.