Moscow: Catastrophic forest fires — spurred by hot and dry weather — have ravaged vast areas of Siberia, and ruined the region’s ecosystem, said Russian ecologists.
Fires have destroyed 100,000 sq km of forests across Russia — an area bigger than Bihar — since the start of the summer season this year, according to Russia’s Greenpeace.
The situation is worst in central Siberia, where fires have ravaged 50,000 sq km of forests. Authorities claim the estimates are greatly overblown. The Emergencies Ministry said the fires have so far covered an area of 6,530 sq km. However, Greenpeace maintains that its figures are far more accurate as they are based on satellite imagery.
Thick smoke has enveloped Novosibirsk, Tomsk, Omsk and other major cities in Siberia, closing down local airports for days. Plumes of smoke rising high into the atmosphere have been carried by winds as far across the Pacific as British Columbia in Canada.
More than 6,000 fire-fighters; a dozen aircraft; and hundreds of volunteers are fighting the fires in Siberia, but have so far failed to contain the calamity.
“The forest fires are so vast that rains alone can stop them,” said Alexei Yaroshenko, who heads the forest section in Greenpeace Russia.
Source: The Hindu, 30th July 2012