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Natural-calamity warning system tested on Kamchatka Mon

Rescuers are to drill practical actions to make arrangements to evacuate the population from a distress area

PETROPAVLOVSK-KAMCHATSKY, September 10 (Itar-Tass) — The passage of signals warning about an emrrgency situation is tested in the Kamchatka Peninsula's municipal units through loudspeakers on Monday. With this end in view, a new syste for notifying the population about an emergency is tested at the district center of Ust-Kamchatsk, Sergei Khabarov, Kamchatka Territory minister of special programmes, told Itar-Tass.

Alexander Tikhomirov, head of the municipal unit, told Itar-Tass from Ust-Kamchatsk that, along with the checkup of the operation of the warning system, rescuers are to drill practical actions to make arrangements to evacuate the population from a distress area on the seaside spit of land where, according to the scenario of the exercises, a tsumani strike is expected.

The practical part of the exercises will involve seven fishing-industry enterprises located in the risk zone. Up to 300 people and 20 vehicles are to be ferried across the river channel separating the sandspit from Ust-Kamchatsk. The task of rescue services is to bring them to safety where, in the event of a natural calamity. a temporary accommodation station is to be set up.

The reserves of food, medicines, wam clothes, tents and electric generators are to be checked at the same time,Tikhomirov said. Rescue actions are also to be drilled in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Yelizovo, Vilyuchinsk, Penzhinsky District, and Tilichiki Settlement.

Accommodation stations will be set up everywhere for people evacuated from earthquake- and tsunami-prone areas. In Korf Settlement, exercises are to be held with an actual evacuation of people from and an emergncy zone. A mobile hospital, meal stations, and a bakery will be set up in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky.

Exercises to notify people, assist them, and make arrangements for interaction between authorties, rescue and other services invited to help in the event of a natural calamity began on Kamchatka on August 27 and are to be completed on September 27. This is the largest-scale exercises in the Territory's history. They are involving all the municipal units of the Peninsula.

Organizational matters and deployment of rescue means after getting a warning signal about a threat of a strong earthquake were drilled at the first stage. Tasks were tackled to establish interaction between Territorial and municipal commissions for emergencies. At the concluding stage which is to begin on September 17, professional rescuers will drill actions in field conditions.

The exercises are involving about 1,500 people and up to 400 vehicles. The exercises are of routine nature and are not connected with any real threat of a natural calamity, Kamchata government officials emphasize.