Vladimir Putin decided on measures to eliminate the consequences of the disaster

The administration of Komsomolsk-on-Amur yesterday decided to begin an urgent evacuation of residents of the private sector of the flooded village named after Mendeleev, the press service of the city administration reported. The level of the Amur in the Komsomolsk region passed the critical level of 650 cm a few days ago and on Tuesday morning was 820 cm, having risen by 17 cm in one day. The number of victims of the catastrophic flood in the Far East exceeded 100 thousand people. A special decree on measures to eliminate the consequences of floods and the time frame within which the federal government must finance them was signed by President Vladimir Putin during a visit to Vladivostok.

Khabarovsk residents do not have time to build homemade dams
Photo: Evgeny Pereverzev, Kommersant

Vladimir Putin gathered the heads of ten federal ministries in Vladivostok. It was necessary to estimate the costs of the federal budget that are necessary to eliminate the consequences of the flood in the Amur region, the Jewish Autonomous Region and the Khabarovsk Territory. And when all the necessary measures were listed, and billions of dollars in financial support were also named, Vladimir Putin demanded that the governor of each of the affected regions create and head a commission to eliminate the consequences of the natural disaster. For the entire Far Eastern Federal District, the commission will be headed by the new presidential plenipotentiary, Yuri Trutnev.

The next thing he will have to do is the emergency restoration of areas that have been under water. The president ordered the government to provide any assistance, including funds from the federal treasury. All affected families will receive compensation of 110 thousand rubles. for each family member: 10 thousand rubles. for urgent needs, 100 thousand rubles - as compensation for lost property. Vladimir Putin has already signed the corresponding decree.

According to the decree, citizens whose apartments and houses can be repaired after a flood will receive 5 thousand rubles for these purposes. for every square meter of housing. Those who are completely homeless will receive up to 2 million rubles. per family for purchasing housing in new buildings or on the secondary market. The president expects that construction companies will not increase prices, because we are talking about “mass construction of housing for victims.”

In addition, as Health Minister Veronika Skvortsova told the president, it is planned to allocate more than 212 million rubles. for the restoration of medical institutions in the flood zone, as well as 350 million rubles. for vaccination of the population.

In three regions, 87 road sections and 75 road bridges were damaged. To restore municipal and regional roads, 5.9 billion rubles will be required, to restore federal highways - 1 billion rubles. Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov promised to find a billion for federal roads from the reserves of his department. The rest will require additional funds from the federal budget. The President promised funds, asking the Minister to first of all, before the cold weather sets in, to focus on restoring municipal roads, then regional ones, and only then take on federal ones.

The flood caused the greatest damage to agriculture. In the Amur region, up to 60% of farmland is flooded with water. The losses of agricultural producers in all three regions, “including lost profits, amount to more than 10 billion rubles,” said the head of the Ministry of Agriculture, Nikolai Fedorov. However, lost profits are not subject to compensation, he clarified. Therefore, “direct losses amount to more than 4 billion rubles.” But Mr. Fedorov emphasized that in the flood zones the fertile layer has been practically washed away, which will take at least three years to restore. This means, in his opinion, the government will have to reconsider the trend of reducing budget expenditures on land reclamation included in the draft budget for 2014–2016.

Energy Minister Alexander Novak informed the president about drastic measures that could prevent similar floods on the Amur - the construction of five or six additional hydroelectric complexes capable of receiving excess volumes of water. But Vladimir Putin has so far refused to consider this idea, as he was interested in the operational measures that need to be taken before the onset of cold weather to make life easier for the victims. However, the president does not reject long-term measures. Therefore, he instructed yesterday all ministries and scientific institutes involved in hydrology to begin a comprehensive survey of the real situation on the large and small rivers of Siberia and the Far East. The survey, in his opinion, should be completed before January 1, 2015, after which a comprehensive program should be developed that would, among other things, prevent destructive floods.

Vladimir Putin also said that he receives many requests regarding tariffs for electricity and railway transportation. “We must at least prevent these tariffs from rising. People are asking to somehow reduce them, I don’t know how possible this is, but in any case we must prevent them from growing,” the president said. He instructed the Ministry of Energy to pay attention to this.

The head of state noted at the meeting that rail transportation “is twice as expensive as the cost of the goods itself... therefore, it is necessary to either subsidize these transportations or solve this problem by other means.” As one of the options, in addition to subsidies, the president suggested that Russian Railways might take over some of the transportation volumes. “The situation here needs to be normal so that people can bring in food, coal and necessary goods,” the president said.

Vladimir Putin was outraged by the conditions in which the evacuees were living. “We, thank God, are not poor: we have resources, funds, money, food. Is it a small country here, or what? Can’t we transport 800 people?” — the president was indignant.

He also drew attention to the fact that people in temporary accommodation centers are fed for only 100 rubles. in a day. “Can’t we allocate money to at least organize a normal diet for people?” - the president asked and demanded that the Minister of Labor resolve all these issues together with the regional authorities.

Viktor Khamraev, Oleg Zhunusov

Money fell from the flood