Commissions and Boards

- Interagency Commission of the Russian Federation for Fighting Forest Fires

- Interagency Commission of the Russian Federation for Floods

- Interagency Maritime Coordinating Commission for Emergencies on the Seas and Water Basins

- Interagency Commission of the Russian Federation for the Certification of Rescuers

The Department of International Cooperation, to present an example of the activities of one of these departments and commissions, has already signed agreements on cooperation during disaster response and prevention with Germany, Italy, France, Switzerland, Poland, Belarus, Georgia, and Kazakhstan. Mutual assistance pacts are ready for signing with Mongolia, Latvia, Finland, Armenia, Moldova, and Estonia. An agreement also exists with the U.N. High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR).

Internal Organizations:

- Regional Centres – EMERCOM centres are located in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Rostov-on-Don, Samara, Yekaterinburg, Novosibirsk, Krasnoyarsk, Chita and Khabarovsk.

- Civil Defense and Emergency Headquarters – Many regions, provinces, autonomous administrative units, districts and towns possess these headquarters.

- Command and Control Center – These centers are located in Moscow, and in each region and oblast.

- Training and Education Facilities – These include a Civil Protection Academy, Training and Methodology centres, an All-Russia Scientific Research Institute, an All-Russian Monitoring and Laboratory Control Centre, and a Centre for Scientific Analysis of Civil Defense Issues.

To perform rapid response operations the following forces and equipment are available:

- Central Air-Mobile Rescue Team – These teams are equipped with aviation facilities that include helicopters and cargo aircraft (Ilyushin Il-76 and Antonov An-72). The teams have taken part in United Nation’s humanitarian delivery operations.

- Civil Defense Troops – These troops consist of military troop divisions and regiments stationed in various regions of the country.

- Search and Rescue Service – This service maintains 30 units in various republics, regions and provinces.

The total area of Russia is over 17 mln square kilometers. Our country is exposed to more than 30 natural phenomena – floods, earthquakes, landslides, avalanches, heavy snowfalls, pouring rains, hail and so on. Tens of thousands of people have perished and another 540,000 have been injured in Russia over the last 30 years. The total economic damage was estimated over 500 billion rubles.

Nowadays Russia has about 3 thousand dangerous chemical plants and factories, more than 1,5 thousand radiation-dangerous sites, about 8 thousand fire-and-explosion dangerous businesses, and over 30 thousand hydro technological constructions. Most of them are potentially dangerous for people’s life and health in case some of them are involved in accidents (as it was the case with Chelyabinsk region, Chernobyl and some others). Suffice it to say that over 90 million live in potentially hazardous areas of the Russian Federation. The annual total loss from disasters both natural and man-made is over 500 billion rubles.

Exercise 3. Answer the questions:

1. What does the word “EMERCOM” stand for?

2. When was EMERCOM established?

3. Why do some people consider December 27, 1990 the real birth of the agency?

4. What are some of the core tasks of the Ministry?

5. Who is the Minister in charge of EMERCOM?

6. What rank does Minister Shoigu have now?

7. What Commissions and Boards does the Ministry have?

8. What are the responsibilities of the Department of International Cooperation?

9. Where are Internal Organizations located?

10. What can you tell about Civil Defense and Emergency Headquarters?

11. What do Training and Education Facilities include?

12. What are Central Air-Mobile Rescue Teams equipped with?

13. How many units are there in Search and Rescue Service of Russia?

14. What natural phenomena is Russia exposed to?

15. Do you know any examples of natural or man-made disasters in Russia?

Exercise 4: Read the following numerals and dates

January 10, 1994; December 27, 1990; November 1991; October 1994;

February 1, 1994; 17,000 000; 30; 540,000; 2,500; 1,500; 3,000; 8,000; 30,000; October 2004; September 2008

Exercise 5. Match the words:

1. total 2. to expose 3. phenomenon 4. flood 5. earthquake 6. landslide 7. avalanche 8. snowfall 9. to perish 10. to injure 11. damage 12. to estimate 13. disaster 14. loss 15. science 16. to complete 17. map 18. to publish 19. report 20. claim lives 21. to forecast 22. prevention measure 23. essential 24. responsibility 25. annual

публиковать обязанность актуальный меры предосторожности унести жизни прогнозировать бедствие, катастрофа погибнуть, умереть to потери ежегодный наука завершать, заканчивать доклад, сообщение лавина явление снегопад землетрясение наводнение общий оползень оценивать, подсчитывать ущерб травмировать подвергаться y. карта, атлас

Exercise 6. Insert “more” or “the most”:

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