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Russia to help Syria restore system of response to emergencies

Russia’s Emergencies Ministry will help Syria restore the national system of reaction to emergencies

MOSCOW, August 8. /TASS/. Russia’s Emergencies Ministry will help Syria restore the national system of reaction to emergencies and train humanitarian demining specialists, the ministry’s spokesman Alexander Nogin said at a meeting of the inter-departmental coordination center for the return of refugees to Syria.

"In accordance with instructions from the Russian president the Emergencies Ministry in cooperation with the Foreign Ministry is beginning preparations for multilateral development promotion projects in Syria jointly with international organizations concerned. These projects are geared to restoring Syria’s national system of response to emergencies and creating a logistics and training basis for the instruction of specialists in the prevention of emergencies and elimination of their effects," he said.

Also, there are plans for the training of Syria’s own humanitarian demining specialists in accordance with international standards and for briefing Syrian civilians on mine-related risks in the context of postwar reconstruction.

Nogin said that Russia’s Emergencies Ministry was providing humanitarian assistance to the Syrian population, including refugees returning home.

"Emergencies Ministry planes have delivered up to 100 tonnes of food from the reserves of the Russian-Armenian center for humanitarian response to emergencies and also 34 tonnes of humanitarian cargoes from the Russian Reserve - food and dressing and disinfection items," Nogin said.

A spokesman for the federal medical-biological agency Dmitry Samovarov said that within the framework of measures to promote the return of refugees to Syria the agency had formed a combined team of 35 medical specialists - therapists, pediatricians, surgeons, cardiologists, otorhinolaryngologists, ophthalmologists m neurologists and others. A fleet of specialized crosscountry vehicles was dispatched to Syria - a command center, an intensive care van, an operating room, an X-ray diagnostic vehicle and laboratory - eight vehicles all in all. All are equipped with advanced medical instruments for providing first aid and conducting medical examination at checkpoints and the refugees accommodation and distribution center.

"All proposals for deploying and using the equipment have been handed over to the Syrian side for consideration," Samovarov said.