MOSCOW, December 24. /TASS/. The Russian Emergencies Ministry is preparing changes to Russian legislation in relation to obligatory evacuation of local population in emergency areas, head of the ministry Yevgeny Zinichev said in an interview with TASS.
"During the floods in the Amur Region in the summer of this year, we faced this problem: the local population refusing to evacuate despite the threat of flooding. We were forced to leave special equipment in the area, along with watercrafts with rescue workers, although they were desperately needed in other places. We have addressed the president, and he decreed to make changes to our legislation to make evacuation obligatory in case of an emergency situation," the minister noted. He explained that in accordance with the existing law, obligatory evacuation can only take place if a counterterrorism operation is underway or if a state of emergency is introduced.
The head of the Russian Emergencies Ministry also plans to introduce liability for incomplete or inaccurate information on emergencies from other federal bodies of executive power. "Unfortunately, we see that some of them take on an irresponsible approach: they only provide information if they want to. However, the situation is changing," the minister said.