Russia Will Send Humanitarian Aid to New York in the Wake of Hurricane Sandy

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On Monday, 12 November, the Ministry of Emergency Situations (MChS) plans to send two planes with humanitarian aid to Hurricane Sandy-hit New York City. Two Ilyushin-76 cargo planes will deliver over 50 tons of humanitarian aid; they’re due to take off from Ramenskoye Airport south-east of Moscow. The aircraft are part of the MChS division that responds to international and national disasters.

Con Ed reported that it’s restored 98 percent of electric service in the New York metro area to those neighbourhoods that lost power due to hurricane Sandy. At present, 20,000 people are still without electricity. In the immediate aftermath of the hurricane, more than a million people in the city had no electricity. In New Jersey, where the elements left 2.7 million customers without electricity, efforts are still underway to restore power. Currently, 100,000 are still without power.

The New York Times reported that about 900 New Yorkers who lost their houses due to Hurricane Sandy would have temporary housing on the premises of the former Arthur Kill Correctional Facility in Staten Island, closed by New York State in 2011. Meanwhile, about 40,000 NYC residents are still unable to go home or lost their houses. Hurricane Sandy struck the American east coast at the end of October, killing more than 100 people and inflicting billions of dollars in damages.

11 November 2012

Voice of Russia World Service

http://english.ruvr.ru/2012_11_11/Russia-will-send-humanitarian-aid-to-New-York/

Serbs Pray For Rain Amidst Raging Fires

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Several hundred people answered a call by a Serbian Orthodox bishop to pray for rain as wildfires rage in the Balkan country, and forecasts indicate their prayers may be answered. The church prayers in the town of Valjevo in central Serbia were held Sunday after months of record-setting temperatures and unprecedented drought that triggered fires, destroyed crops, and dried out rivers. Emergency measures have been introduced in parts of central Serbia as two Russian firefighting planes tried to extinguish blazes that destroyed hundreds of hectares of forests and threatened some villages. The Serbian government, which asked for Russian help and deployed army troops to fight the fires, held an emergency session Sunday to deal with the disaster. Weather forecasters predict showers for Serbia overnight.

26 August 2012

Associated Press

As quoted in NewsWest9.com

http://www.kwes.com/story/19378425/serbs-pray-for-rain-amid-raging-fires

Bus Carrying Pilgrims from Pskov Oblast Going to Pochaev Lavra Crashes in the Ukraine… 14 Dead, Mourning Declared in Pskov Oblast

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The Ministry of Emergency Situations (MChS) said that, early on Saturday, a bus carrying Russian pilgrims crashed on the road between Chernigov and Kiev, killing at least fourteen and injuring 22 people. The bus was carrying 45 passengers from Pskov Oblast to the Pochaev Lavra in the Ukraine. According to preliminary data, the driver lost control of the vehicle; it ran off the road and flipped over. First responders took the injured Russian pilgrims to hospital in Chernigov; three of them are in critical condition. Russia will send two planes to take the victims of the crash back home.

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The authorities in Pskov Oblast declared a three-day period of mourning starting on 9 July. This was after a bus carrying Russian pilgrims crashed in the Ukraine on Saturday, killing at least fourteen and injuring 22 people. In an official statement, a Pskov Oblast spokesman said, “We’ll lower flags to half-mast and cancel all entertainment events and light TV programmes for 9-11 July”.

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On Sunday, an official MChS spokesman said that two MChS aircraft brought 25 Russian pilgrims injured in a bus crash in the Ukraine on Saturday to Moscow. Fourteen people were killed after a bus carrying 43 pilgrims from Pskov Oblast to the Pochaev Lavra in the Ukraine swerved off the road, crashing into a ditch. The MChS spokesman said that one of the planes, an Il-76, brought 14 people, who suffered serious injuries. Twenty ambulances met the plane, which immediately took the injured to various Moscow hospitals. The other plane, a Yak-42, carried 11 people with less-severe injuries and the bodies of those killed in the crash. Three more passengers from the crashed bus remain in ICUs of Ukrainian hospitals, as doctors prohibited their transportation due to the risk to their lives. One more passenger also remains in the Ukraine, to aid in the investigation into the crash. According to an investigator’s preliminary reports, the accident took place as the driver had fallen asleep, eventually causing him to lose control of the vehicle.

 7/8 July 2012

RIA-Novosti

http://en.ria.ru/russia/20120707/174447995.html

http://en.ria.ru/russia/20120707/174452304.html

http://en.ria.ru/russia/20120708/174459832.html