Date: 09-Aug-10
Country: RUSSIA
Author: Conor Humphries and Daniel Flynn
 

Residents set grass on fire to create a firebreak, a barrier which slows down or stops new wildfire outbursts, outside the village of Korovino, some 90 km (56 miles) southeast of Moscow, August 8, 2010.
Photo: Mikhail Voskresensky

Moscow doctors said they were wary of diagnosing patients with heat and smoke-related illnesses out of fear they will lose their jobs, hinting at Russia's long record of covering up the impact of disasters.

Many Russians have criticized the government's slow response to the peat and forest fires that have engulfed swathes of Russia and left a harmful smoke cloud that has choked the capital for several days.

The opposition accused authorities of being in denial.

Powerful Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov, notably silent during the crisis since he left for holiday on August 2, was returning on Sunday because of "the developing situation in the city due to fires," news agencies quoted his spokesman as saying.

Fires caused by the hottest weather since records began 130 years ago have left thousands homeless and prompted officials to warn against venturing outdoors in Moscow, where flights were diverted and residents wore surgical masks.

The Emergencies Ministry said on Sunday the area forest and peat fires in the Moscow region had tripled since Friday; currently at 210 hectares (519 acres), up from 65.7.

France, responding to Moscow's plea for aid, offered 120 men, 37 vehicles, 15 motorpumps and a bombardier DASH water plane, the French presidency said in a statement on Sunday.

An unnamed doctor at a Moscow clinic wrote on his site that the bodies of those who had died from heatstroke and smoke ailments over the last few days were piling up in the basement, as the "fridges are full," leaving a "rotting stench." He added the situation was similar at hospitals across Moscow.

"(But) we can't give that diagnosis -- we don't want to be sacked. We have families to feed," he said on his site here; comments that were were carried by several Russian media outlets on Sunday.

He added that if a state of emergency were declared in Moscow as in other regions, doctors have to be paid double.

Another doctor at a major hospital, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters that staff had been instructed by senior management to not link patients' illnesses with the heatwave.

A spokeswoman for the Moscow city government declined to comment on the doctors' claims.

RESIDENTS FLEE

Pro-Western opposition party Yabloko on Sunday accused the governor of the Nizhny Novgorod region, some 350 km (220 miles) east of Moscow, of deliberately denying residents access to information on the fires raging in his region by not reinstating site wyksa.ru, which was shut on August 5 in a cyber attack.

The site had served as a lifeline for residents by giving detailed information on how to get help, Yabloko said in a statement, adding that its closure "killed people."

Last week the Ministry of Defense denied two military installations were damaged by fire, but the reports were later revealed to be true.

Critics say Moscow has a history cover ups when disaster strikes, from its delay in responding to the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster to the conflicting reports surrounding the 2000 sinking of the Kursk nuclear submarine.

Though the government maintains the official death toll from fires is 52, an "informed source" told Interfax news agency on Friday that the death rates in Moscow surged nearly 30 percent in July because of the heat and foul smoke cloud.

One of the world's top grains producers, Russia has announced a temporary ban on exports after crops were ravaged by the dry weather. The news sent world wheat prices soaring.

Moscow temperatures hit 34.7 degrees Celsius (94.5 F) on Sunday, breaking a record for the sixth time in August. Trains and flights out are booked solid as residents flee and the United States and Italy have warned against travel to Russia.

Moscow went into a near shut-down on Sunday; streets and cafes emptied, schools and gyms canceled their classes and state television Rossiya 24 said organized tours were scrapped.

It showed groups of Japanese tourists wandering near Red Square. Dozens of flights at Moscow's busy airports were delayed on Sunday morning due to low visibility, it said.

Fires near the Sarov nuclear arms facility where troops dug a 8-km (5-mile) long canal were finally put out, agencies said.

(Editing by Jon Hemming)