The 2010 Russian wildfires are a series of hundreds of wildfires that broke out across Russia, primarily in the west, from late July 2010 to present, due to record temperatures (hottest summer in Russian history) and drought in the region. The President of Russia has declared a state of emergency in seven regions for the fires, while 28 other regions were under a state of emergency due to crop failures caused by the Russian drought.

Overview

During the year 2010, Russia experienced generally dry and hot weather starting around late May – early June. Temperatures of 35 °C (95 °F) first occurred after 12 June, which alone was an abnormality for the country (average mid-June temperatures seldom rise above 30 °C (86 °F)). In the second half of June, distant Russian regions (such as Sakha Republic), located mostly in Asia, as well as areas of partial taiga, had temperatures of 38–40 °C (100–104 °F) degrees. The warm ridging pattern then slowly moved westward to the Ural Mountains, and by July settled in European Russia.

On 25 June a new temperature record was set in the Asian portion of Russia, at Belogorsk, Amur Oblast, at 42.3 °C (108.1 °F). The previous record in the Asian portion was 41.7 °C (107.1 °F) at Aksha (village) on 21 July 2004. A new record for the highest nationwide temperature in Russia was set on 11 July, at 44 °C (111 °F), in Yashkul, Kalmykia (in the European portion), beating the previous record of 43.8 °C (110.8 °F) set on 6 August 1940, also in Kalmykia.

Average temperatures in the region increased to over 35 °C (95 °F). Citizens of Moscow endured nights of 36 °C (97 °F), a record for nighttime temperatures since the year 1947. The mean high for European Russia recorded on 26 July reached 40 °C (104 °F) during the day, and 34 °C (93 °F) at night. During the month of July, a large portion of European Russia was more than 7 °C (12.6 °F) warmer than normal.

Other Information

• Location : Russia
• Date : Late July 2010 – present
• Land use : Villages, farmland, woodlands
• Buildings destroyed : 2,000
• Fatalities : Minimum 53, possibly fifteen thousand

An oil spill in eastern Australia has forced officials to declare a 60 kilometer stretch of the Queensland coast a disaster zone amid warnings that legal action could be taken against the operator of the cargo ship that lost its fuel in stormy seas.

Australian authorities originally said about 30 tons of oil were lost when 31 containers of fertilizer slipped from the Hong Kong-flagged “Pacific Adventurer” ship and punctured fuel tanks in the hull as the ship was battered in cyclone-stirred waters.

Queensland state Premier Anna Bligh said Friday the spill was larger than had been reported but did not say exactly how much oil was shed.

The authorities have declared large stretches of normally white-sand beaches along the popular surf region of the Sunshine Coast a disaster zone, as well as Moreton and Bribie islands, which are national parks.
At the beach resort of Coolum, north of the Queensland state capital of Brisbane, dark brown waves rolled ashore instead of the usual whitecaps and aqua waters of the Coral Sea.

Anna Bligh says the causes of this environmental disaster will be thoroughly examined.

“This will be the subject of a full investigation. If there is any evidence that any government agency could have or should have done better, we will certainly be taking all relevant action to address that,” said Bligh. “At this stage my priority is to have teams of people out there cleaning this mess up to protect wildlife in what may well be the worst environmental disaster that Queensland or the south-east of our State has faced.”

Bligh says the ship’s operators would be held liable for the costs of the massive cleanup operation.

The lost 31 containers that held hundreds of tons of ammonium nitrate fertilizer have not been found.

The ship was on its way to Indonesia to deliver its shipment when the accident occurred.

Its owner, Hong Kong-based “Swire,” may face fines of up to $1 million if found guilty of environmental breaches.
Conservationists have warned that oil could be washed up for weeks to come along Queensland’s popular coastline.

Hundreds of people are involved in the clean-up and are trying to stop rivers from being contaminated.

The Queensland government has defended its response to the disaster thus far amid accusations that it failed to act quickly enough.

VOA News – Australia Declares Oil Spill Area Disaster Zone

A fire swept through Bangladesh’s largest shopping mall Friday in the capital, Dhaka, killing at least one person and injuring several others.

Authorities were still battling the blaze several hours after it began on top floors of the office tower at the Bashundhara City complex. Helicopters were used to douse the flames from the top floor of the 21-story building.

Hundreds of people were evacuated from the mall. Authorities are trying to determine if people are still trapped inside.

The cause of the fire is not known.

The multi-purpose complex includes more than 2,500 shops, restaurants, cinemas and offices. It is located near Kawran Bazaar, a major commercial hub in the capital.

Fire Sweeps Through Bangladeshi High Rise

Rescue workers are searching for up to four people still missing after a building housing archives collapsed on Tuesday in the German city of Cologne.

Witnesses said there may have been two people inside a car parked outside the archive and another two in a nearby building that subsequently collapsed.

The area must be stabilised before rescue teams can move into the rubble.

Cracks and groaning noises had alerted staff and visitors at the archive, all of whom escaped before it collapsed.

Work was being carried out nearby on a new underground railway, but the company involved said there had been no recent tunnelling.

‘Spreading cracks’

Gregor Timmer, a spokesman for the city of Cologne, said on Wednesday morning that rescue workers had to assume that between two and four people were still missing underneath the rubble of the archive and two neighbouring buildings.

“There are reports on two inhabitants of the building next to the archive that collapsed and two people who were inside a car in front of the building at the time of the tragedy,” he told the Reuters news agency.

Up to nine people were initially reported missing after the collapse, but several have since contacted city officials, police said.

The archive building dated from the 1970s and contained 65,000 original documents, some of them dating back more than 1,000 years.

There has been no word on the condition of the collection, which includes manuscripts by Communist philosophers Karl Marx and Freidrich Engels and items left to the city by figures such as the Nobel Prize-winning author, Heinrich Boell.

Mr Timmer said rescuers needed to stabilise the remains of the structures before moving into the rubble to determine whether anyone was trapped inside.

“The buildings to the left and right of the collapse site are severely damaged and are in danger of partly falling down. That is why rescuers are currently unable to step onto the rubble,” he added.

On Tuesday evening, concrete was pumped into the ground to firm it up. Two hundred rescue workers are still at the scene.

The six-storey building collapsed at about 1400 local time (1300 GMT), bringing down two other neighbouring buildings.

One witness said the scene resembled a Hollywood movie as cracks slowly spread up the building’s facade before it collapsed in a cloud of dust.

It is not yet clear what caused the buildings to collapse, officials said.

Authorities in Cologne have evacuated buildings within a 150m radius around the site, including two schools and a retirement home.

German archive building collapses

A Turkish airliner carrying 134 people crashed at Amsterdam’s main airport Wednesday, killing nine people and injuring more than 50 others.

The airliner crashed into a muddy field just short of Amsterdam main airport mid-morning local time, breaking into three pieces. The Boeing 737 aircraft had been en route from Istanbul to The Netherlands and was trying to land in misty weather. The Turkish airline initially said there had been no casualties, but Dutch authorities quickly amended that claim.

The Turkish Transport Minister said it was a miracle there weren’t more casualties.

At a news conference, a local mayor, Michel Bezuijen, briefly sketched the events before the crash and its aftermath to reporters.

“At this moment, rescue operations are still in full force,” he said. “At this moment, nine mortally wounded are to be regretted. About 50 wounded persons have been brought to hospital in Amsterdam and Haarlem.”

Survivors told Turkish television that the events took place very quickly. Dutch authorities are promising a quick investigation, and so far, they say, it’s unclear just what caused the crash.

The plane’s manufacturer Boeing is sending a team to provide technical assistance to Dutch investigators. A spokesman for the investigators said the plane’s flight data recorders had been found and will be analyzed by experts.

Turkish Airliner Crashes at  Amsterdam Airport, Killing 9 People