Thunderstorm cuts power supply in 1,500 north-western settlements.

MOSCOW, August 16 (Itar-Tass) -- The cold front with a major hurricane
left without power supplies about 1,500 settlements in north-western
Russia, a source in the information department of the Ministry of
Emergency Situations (EMERCOM) told Itar-Tass on Monday.
The cold front followed with the high winds was passing through
several constituents in the North-Western Federal District on Sunday.
"Some 1,490 settlements, where 93,841 people live, were left without power
supplies in the Leningrad, Novgorod, Pskov and Vologda regions," the
EMERCOM source said.
All social facilities were connected to the reserve power sources, the
source noted.
The repairmen are cleaning up the aftermath of a major thunderstorm in
several Russian regions.

.EMERCOM, other agencies doing all to clean up calamity aftermath.

MOSCOW, August 16 (Itar-Tass) -- The Ministry of Emergency Situations
(EMERCOM) and other agencies are taking additional measures to clean up
the aftermath of the cold front in north-western Russia.
"Under the instructions given by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin the
EMERCOM National Center of Management in Crisis Situations held a meeting
of the governmental committee on prevention and cleanup of emergency
situations," a source in the EMERCOM information department told Itar-Tass.
Minister of Emergency Situations Sergei Shoigu, Interior Minister
Rashid Nurgaliyev and Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko, as well as the chief
executives of other ministries and agencies were taking part in the
meeting of the committee. "The committee has worked out a plan to clean up
the aftermath of the cold front in north-western Russia," the EMERCOM
source said.
Specifically, the governmental committee was instructed to set up
operational headquarters based on the EMERCOM main regional departments in
all regions in the North-Western Federal District, which were affected in
the natural disaster. The operational headquarters should include all
members of regional emergencies committees. "These headquarters will work
round-the-clock," the EMERCOM source said.
The same operational headquarters should be formed in the regions,
where, according to weather forecasts, the cold front is expected, namely
the Moscow, Vladimir, Ivanovo and Nizhny Novgorod regions. "Along with the
missions to put out the wildfires raging in these regions, the operational
headquarters should take all measures to minimize the aftermath of the
cold front," the EMERCOM source elaborated.
Alongside, the Ministry of Health and Social Development should check
whether all medical and social security in-patient institutions, as well
as holiday homes and children's summer camps have reserve power sources.
The Transport Ministry should put its employees on permanent
patrolling and duty on the highways for the non-stop traffic and the
timely response to traffic jams.
The Energy Ministry was instructed to form headquarters and to make an
inspection of the emergency stock of reserve power sources. Meanwhile, the
Ministry of Regional Development should put under control all systems of
the housing and utilities sector.
The chiefs of territorial police departments were instructed to take
necessary measures to ensure the law and order, primarily at children's
summer camps and at strategic facilities.

.Putin to inspect how wildfires put out in Moscow region.

MOSCOW, August 16 (Itar-Tass) -- Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin
will go on a working trip in the Moscow Region on Monday to inspect the
firefighting efforts with peat bog fires and to chair a conference on
development of housing construction, the government press service reported.
The prime minister will watch a technology to flood peat bogs in
Kolomna. This technology is also planned to apply to extinguish fires in
other fire-hit regions.
At a conference in Podolsk the prime minister will discuss a scope of
measures to develop economy class housing construction - modern housing
meeting the requirements of energy efficiency, ecology and affordable
prices for the families with moderate incomes. The conference will also
discuss "the construction of housing for people left homeless after the
forest and peat bog fires." The conference will also consider the progress
to provide with housing people, for whom the state authorities assumed
corresponding obligations, particularly for servicemen and veterans. "The
complex development of construction areas, the creation of engineering and
social infrastructure in mass housing construction districts will be given
close attention," the government press service reported.
Alongside, the conference will discuss the setting of deadlines to
commission housing in federal constituents for a period from 2011 to 2015
and until 2020. In this respect, the conference will consider measures to
build up the cooperation between the executive authorities in federal
constituents, the Federal Agency for Mortgage Crediting, the Federal Fund
for Promoting the Housing Construction Development, the Federal Fund of
the Housing and Utilities Sector, Vnesheconombank and the National
Association of Builders in implementing regional programs to promote the
housing construction development. The conference will also consider the
drafting of the federal housing targeted program for 2011-2015.
-0-baz