Russia has declared a state of emergency due to the ecological disaster in the Black Sea
Russia has declared a state of emergency – the Russian authorities have declared a state of emergency in connection with the leak of fuel oil into the Kerch Strait, which was confirmed by news agencies on Thursday, citing a statement from the Ministry of Emergency Situations. This incident caused a major ecological disaster.
The leak occurred on December 15, when a storm damaged two Russian tankers, releasing thousands of tons of oil into the Black Sea. The pollution affected beaches over a length of 55 km, especially in the area of the Anapa resort in the Krasnodar Krai.
A state of emergency was declared at the federal level to enable the transfer of “necessary financial assistance (…) from the Russian government fund.” Earlier, a regional state of emergency was declared the day before this announcement.
Viktor Danilov-Danilan, an expert from the Russian Academy of Sciences and former Minister of Environmental Protection, estimated that at least 200,000 were contaminated. tons of soil. During a news conference on Wednesday, he warned that pollution would get worse.
Fuel oil remains in the sea in significant quantities. It will continue to wash up on the already cleared shore. Further cleaning activities will be necessary. We need to prepare for this, said the scientist, quoted by the Moscow Times website.
Russia has declared a state of emergency – Rescue operations
The Ministry of Emergency Situations announced that it is currently monitoring a 220 km long coast. About 30,000 tons of contaminated sand were removed from the beaches, and an area of about 5 square kilometers along the coastline was cleaned in the port of Anapa. More than 10,000 people were involved in the rescue operation, including volunteers who saved 1,154 seabirds.
Experts criticized the authorities for lacking appropriate equipment and relying on volunteers. – There are no bulldozers or trucks. There is practically no heavy equipment, he emphasized. – Volunteers only have shovels and useless plastic bags that tear. While the bags are waiting to be taken away, storms come and the bags end up back in the sea. This is unthinkable!
During his annual press conference last week, Vladimir Putin blamed the tanker captains for the disaster, stressing that they had gone to sea without the appropriate permits.
