Russian Press - Behind the Headlines, August 2

Moskovsky Komsomolets

Moscow Health Department: If It Gets Too Hot, Take a Dip in the Fountain

The heatwave in Moscow hasn’t caused any serious health problems yet. There has been a minor increase in the number of emergency calls, from 9,500 to 10,000 a day, plus 400 calls from the recently incorporated areas of Moscow.

On August 1, the Moscow Health Department invited journalists to the city’s ambulance service center and briefed them on health recommendations in hot weather.

The dispatchers who sit in their cubicles in a huge room take calls from all Moscow districts, including the new areas, where three substations and several ambulance posts have been set up. Each dispatcher has two monitors, one of them topographical. When the caller gives the address, this monitor shows all ambulances within a radius of 2.5 kilometers from the caller. The software chooses the closest ambulance, so that the crew gets to the patient in less than the standard 20 minutes. In cases involving heart problems, the dispatcher sends a cardiac or intensive care team whenever possible. Each ambulance carries the equipment for transmitting cardiograms to a heart specialist at the central station. A separate group is reserved for road accidents, and there are also specialists who consult patients by phone.

Doctors say that the number of calls has not gone up radically despite the heat. “It is not that hot anyway, compared to 2010,” the dispatchers say. “Heat becomes abnormal when it exceeds the body temperature.”

Nikolai Plavunov, Deputy Healthcare Minister in the Moscow government, said the number of calls to the ambulance center had not increased much, and the rate of heart attacks and strokes is almost the same as before the heat wave. “There are fewer incidences of high blood pressure,” he said. Most callers complain about colds or feeling weakness. This is probably because many people are away from the city either on vacation or in the countryside. Besides, most offices and many homes have air conditioning. Plavunov said that the majority of city hospitals have air conditioning, although those in the new areas are yet to be renovated and fitted out with new equipment.

Only five heat strokes have been reported in Moscow over the past week, and the drowning rate is not excessive either. Most drowning incidences are recorded in places where swimming is prohibited, and there have been no drowning cases at the city beaches, which have paramedics on duty, Plavunov said.

But doctors still recommend that people remain indoors and stay out of the sun as much as possible, although you can get a heat stroke in the shade too. “Try to reduce the time in the sun as much as possible and do not drink alcohol. Gardening should be done in the morning or evening. If you suffer from high blood pressure, take measurements twice a day and medication as prescribed by your doctor,” Plavunov said.

Nezavisimaya Gazeta

Russian Economy Moves into Recession

The Russian economy has exhausted its post-crisis recovery potential. The June growth rates were the smallest since November 2009.

“Russia’s PMI [Purchasing Managers’ Index based on five indicators: new orders, inventory levels, production, supplier deliveries and the employment environment] points to mixed developments,” said Alexander Morozov, Chief Economist for Russia and CIS at HSBC Bank.

“Production and employment in the consumer goods sector increased due to rapidly growing demand, whereas a falling demand for intermediate goods forced producers to cut output and lay off personnel. A minor increase in export contracts was not enough to support that sector,” Morozov said.

He said the Russian economy can maintain a sustainable, even if low, growth rate by relying on internal sources.

However, the consumer demand may weaken amid growing inflation and falling oil prices, which may have an adverse effect on manufacturing in the next few months. “Producers are preparing for the worst,” Morozov said. “The decrease in the inventory levels has been the fastest since October 2009, which means production is being adjusted to a potential decrease in demand.”

Growth in basic industries slowed from 5.3 percent in January to 2.5 percent in June. In annual terms, it is the lowest since November 2009.

Still, experts do not expect the crisis to reach Russia immediately.

“The economy continues to grow moderately. It is not surprising that the rate has decreased from 5 percent of GDP at the beginning of the year. The half-year growth was 4.4 percent, which is quite good. The rate is expected to slow in the second half of the year,” said TKB Capital analyst Sergei Karykhalin. “It is too early to talk about a crisis, although the basic scenario forecasts a gradual decrease in economic growth rates, industrial production and people’s incomes and expenses. There are no reasons for an economic revival either, but it could be brought about by a positive change in external markets.”

“The growth rate decline is logical,” said Ilya Balakirev, a risk management analyst with UFS Investment Company. “One of the reasons is debt market tensions due to the European crisis. Offshore projects have been postponed, construction of South Stream has not begun, and the Nord Stream project has been suspended. As a result, the demand for steel products and large transportation and construction contracts is falling. Banks are lending to people and are wary of financing business. Hence, there are few good investment projects, and growth is impossible without them.”

Companies avoid risky projects in view of a possible second wave of the crisis. The Central Bank is taking harsh measures to rein in inflation, which has created a shortage of ruble supply on the market. The growth of incomes has slowed, and consumers have taken a wait-and-see stance.

Strong crisis expectations are influencing the economy, which depends on the mood of the market.

Internal improvements depend on the external market, Balakirev said. “However, political tensions are running high and the mega projects the authorities have promised seem too risky.”

Kommersant

Wildfires Continue to Rage in Siberia

The number of wildfires in the Nizhnevartovsk District, Siberia, is going down, although the firefighters are still having a hard time extinguishing them.

Firefighters in the Nizhnevartovsk District, now under a state of emergency because of raging wildfires, have put out most large-scale outbreaks. But two large fires are still blazing in  the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Area. It seems, what makes the job even tougher is the firefighters’ dependence on businesses and government agencies.

In Nizhnevartovsk, August 1 was the first day without smog. Although the stench was still felt indoors, the air was fresh outdoors and it was not as hot as a day before. The locals knew back in May that their city would be smothered like Moscow in 2010. That was when the heatwave struck, there was no rain and the water level in rivers went down. The local authorities did their best to prepare for the wildfires but their efforts were in vain: Siberia has been hit by the worst drought in the past 30 years. 

“I was in Moscow during the smog, but it lasted only two weeks there,” says Ksenia Bugrimenko, a local blogger. “It was six weeks here. And while the Muscovites were enraged that Mayor Yury Luzhkov went on holiday, our town was abandoned by the mayor, the governor and his deputy as well.”

With only city administration head Alla Badina in charge, she has had to bear the brunt of people’s anger. Television is broadcasting warnings to stay indoors and information about air-conditioned shelters set up by the local authorities. “We are giving their addresses on television. But the number of emergency calls has still gone up by 10 percent. All we can do is pray for some rain,” Badina says.

Yegor Zbrodov, head of the Nizhnevartovsk forestry, has a handbook How One Should Work by Vladimir Lenin on his desk. “In the Soviet times they knew how to organize work. Now they don’t,” he says. Zbrodov, whose ministry is directly responsible for putting out fires, unlike the revolutionary leader, has become hostage to capital. With the adoption of the new Forest Code firefighters have to look to land leaseholders and beg the federal authorities for help. Neither is too willing to provide it.

“Owners of oil companies agree to supply personnel and equipment only when the fire gets close to their facilities. As a general rule, we send out letters and wait to see if anyone replies. That is completely wrong,” he says.

Currently, two forest fires are still raging and Zbrodov is trying to obtain a bulldozer from local businesses to bank up the glowing peat fields.

“We lack the infrastructure and well-trained smokejumpers – they have all gone to the private sector, while it is us, not the Emergencies Ministry, that are responsible for dealing with the fires,” he says. He explains that their resources are stretched to the limit even when extinguishing small fires.

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