Major fires in Siberia force residents to stay indoors

300 kilometers from Moscow in Russia, entire villages were burned in the Sasha Republic, the largest Russian semi-republic in northeastern Siberia. Yellow smoke covers several areas, which, according to satellite images from NASA, must have reached the North Pole. NASA countries Most of Russia is covered in smoke.

There is no clearing in sight yet, as the wildfires spreading in Siberia are expected to be greater than all the current fires spreading this summer in Greece, Turkey, Canada and the USA combined, according to the AP news agency.

Forest fires It actually arose in the spring as a result of extreme heat and drought that researchers have linked to climate change.

Siberia is currently experiencing its driest summer in 150 years and more than 5,000 people are working to put out fires covering one of the largest areas recorded in Yakutia’s documented history, according to the Associated Press.

A total of 986,000 hectares of land caught fire in Russia.

According to the European Union Copernicus Environmental Monitoring Program, fires in Siberia have released more than 505 million tons carbon dioxide equivalents Since the beginning of June. It has generated as much CO2 emissions as the UK’s throughout 2019.

This year’s fire season It’s not over yet, but this summer has already beaten last year’s record.

In the Yakutia region, the majority of forest fires occur – there have also been emergency permits in many regions for more than a month.

Local authorities have stated that they have only a small percentage of the staff and equipment needed to be able to stem the spread. Therefore, residents in Yakutia were asked to stay at home, not work and spend the day indoors on Fridays due to the health risks from smoke.

Smoke from fires has a very negative impact on human health. To reduce these effects, today I decided to allocate a day off for residents in eleven municipalities, as announced by the head of Sasha, Isin Nikolaev, inGerman news agency RIA Novosti Thursday.

Departing from Yakutia airport was also canceled or severely postponed due to poor visibility due to smoke.

Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered reinforcements earlier this week and sent the Russian Federation’s Ministry of Disasters to Yakutia to monitor the operation.

Read more: 211 wildfires are burning in Russia