ST. PETERSBURG , September 10 (Itar-Tass) - Russia manages to cope with the liquidation of after-effects of the flooding in the Far East; the assistance offered by the Shanghai Cooperation Organization countries (SCO) is not needed yet, Chief of the Department for international activities of the Russian Ministry for Emergency Situations Valery Shuikov declared at a meeting of chiefs of SCO departments in charge of liquidation of emergencies, which was held at the Konstantinovsky Palace in St. Petersburg.
"I think we will cope. But since the SCO states have offered us their assistance we are expressing our sincere gratitude to them," Shuikov said.
The meeting was attended by representatives of Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, representatives of the SCO secretariat and the International Organization of civil defense.
The participants have expressed joint intention to intensify joint efforts for prevention, monitoring and forecasting natural calamities such as the devastating flooding in Russia and China in August 2013.
Chinese Vice Minister of Civil Affairs Jiang Li highly praised close cooperation between Russia and China during the flooding from the Amur river and its tributaries. She focused on the problem of cooperation and exchange of information and thanked the Russian side for moral support.
The devastating flooding hit four provinces in China, where five million people suffered all in all, including 118 dead and 90 reported missing. A total of 610,000 people were evacuated, 250,000 houses were damaged and 36.000 houses destroyed to rubble in the flood-hit zones in China.