Dam Disaster in Russia Sparks Protests, Aid Pledged
Residents of Orsk, Russia, gathered in a rare protest on Monday to demand compensation following a dam collapse and subsequent flooding in the Orenburg region, near the border with Kazakhstan, according to AP.
Hundreds of people gathered in front of the administrative building in Orsk on Monday, the Russian news agency Tass reported, while videos shared on Russian social media channels showed people chanting "Putin, help us" and "shame."
The flooding, caused by rising water levels in the Ural River, has forced over 4,000 people, including 885 children, to evacuate in the Orenburg region, the regional government said on Sunday. Tass reported on Monday that around 10,000 homes, including about 7,000 in Orsk, have been flooded and that waters continued to rise in the city. Images from Orsk and Orenburg showed water partially submerging buildings, including homes, as well as nearby fields.
The Russian government on Sunday declared the situation in the flood-hit areas of Orenburg a federal emergency, and three other regions are preparing for possible flooding, according to state media.
Following the protest, Tass reported that Orenburg regional governor Denis Pasler promised compensation payments of 10,000 rubles ($108 approximately) per month for six months to people who were forced to leave their homes due to the flooding.
Total damage from the flooding in the region is estimated at around 21 billion rubles ($227 million), the regional government said on Sunday.
The city of Orsk, less than 20 kilometres north of the border with Kazakhstan, was the worst hit by the flooding, which occurred after a dam collapsed on Friday, according to Orsk mayor Vasilii Kozupitsa.
A criminal investigation has been launched to investigate suspected violations of construction norms that may have caused the dam to break. Local authorities have said that the dam was designed to withstand water levels of up to 5.5 metres.
On Saturday morning, the water level reached about 9.3 metres and continued to rise, Kozupitsa said. On Sunday, the level in Orsk reached 9.7 metres, according to Russian water level information website AllRivers.
Orsk authorities have said that four people have died, but they have said that their deaths were not related to the flooding.
The designation of the situation as a federal emergency reflects the risk of flooding beyond the Orenburg region.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Sunday that Russian President Vladimir Putin had spoken with the head of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, as well as with the heads of the Kurgan and Tyumen regions, located in the Ural Mountains area, to discuss the situation and the need to quickly adopt measures to assist people and potentially evacuate them.
The Ural River, which is about 2,428 kilometres long, flows from the southern section of the Ural Mountains to the northern end of the Caspian Sea, crossing Russia and Kazakhstan.
Translation by Iurie Tataru
