Puchkov gives start to exercise of Caspian Five in mitigating disaster aftermath
ASTRAKHAN. Sept 21 (Interfax) - The Caspian-2016 exercise of Caspian Sea countries will become a step to the standardization of rescue technologies and the equipment of the rescue services of Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Iran and Azerbaijan, Russian Emergency Situations' Minister Vladimir Puchkov said.
"Today, in the course of the exercise a very wide range of aspects of joint operations of control bodies and response units that operate on the ground, on the water, under water, and in the air are being trained. Several dozen task scenarios have been carried out in the framework of the exercise that help checking the joint actions of all control structures, the organization of information exchanges with simplified technologies," Puchkov said to journalists on Wednesday upon arrival in Astrakhan where the practical stage of the exercise began under his command.
Puchkov said that the exercise will be crowned by a decision on the simplification of the protocols of mutual information exchanges between crisis centers and services dealing with the prevention and mitigation of man-made and natural disasters.
The minister said that the joint aviation grouping of participating countries which includes Beriyev B-200 aircraft of the Emergencies' Ministries of Russia and Azerbaijan, Mil Mi-8 and Kamov Ka-32 helicopters will exercise joint fire extinguishing missions, the air reconnaissance of water space, including cases of pollution with hydrocarbons. In addition, the joint efforts of response units will be drilled. "This helps to develop a single format of the operation of fire-fighters and units responsible for rescue operations, public order, traffic regulation, medicine, river and sea transport in emergency situations," he said.
The scenario of the exercise implies the collision of two ships at sea and the breakthrough of an oil pipeline. In the course of the exercise, rescuers from five countries will have to train in joint actions to rescue people from water and to mitigate the consequences of an oil spill.
After the opening of the drill, the ministers placed flowers at the monument of the late Azerbaijani president Heydar Aliyev.
The three-day exercise Caspian-2016 is taking place on September 20-22 in the Astrakhan region and in the Caspian Sea. It is being attended by representatives of emergencies' services of Russia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Iran.