MOSCOW, June 25. /TASS/. The situation in Norilsk, where more than 21,000 cubic meters of oil products spilled into the soil and water, shows how important it is to monitor all buildings on the permafrost, the Russian Academy of Sciences’ President Alexander Sergeyev told the Russian television on Tuesday.

"We should organize a total monitoring of both industrial and housing buildings on the permafrost," he told the Rossiya 24 television channel. "If the permafrost degrades, all those building will begin to slide. This task is top important. I hail the idea, which has been supported by President Vladimir Putin, to have a new program to monitor the climate and consequences from the climate changes."

The Academy jointly with the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Ministry of Education and Science will participate actively in the program, he added.

According to him, Russian scientists have classified the Northern and Arctic areas depending on how the perennially frozen ground degrades there. In some areas the process is slow, but in others the melting becomes hazardous. Norilsk, where the accident happened, is in the area of active melting, which has caused damage to the pad under tanks with fuel.

Over 21,000 cubic meters of petroleum products spilled at the Thermal Power Plant No. 3 of the Norilsk and Taimyr Energy Company (a part of the metals giant Norilsk Nickel) on May 29 after the concrete foundation of a fuel storage tank sank, causing the fuel facility’s collapse.