The personnel of Russia’s Emergencies Ministry are celebrating their professional holiday - Rescue Worker’s Day. On December 27, 1990 Russia created a dramatically new service, called the Russian Rescue Workers’ Corps, which was later renamed to the State Committee for Emergency Situations (EMERCOM) and ultimately, to the Emergencies Ministry, TASS reports on Saturday.
Emergencies Minister Vladimir Puchkov has said that in dealing with various extraordinary situations, fires and other incidents this year his colleagues across the nation saved 260,000 lives.
“The outgoing year was really hard and tough for us. But the Emergencies Ministry and the national unified system of warning and elimination of emergencies have coped with all of the tasks facing them. The speed and effectiveness of response to fires and other emergencies have improved,” Puchkov said. In the outgoing year the number of emergencies was reduced, so was the number of man-made fires and the damage caused.
“The Emergencies Ministry has a three-year budget for 2015-2017… However hard the economic situation may be, the Emergencies Ministry hopes to get more aircraft, equipment, gear and firefighting systems – all of domestic manufacture. This will enable us to develop steadily and cope with the tasks the country’s leadership may set to us,” Puchkov said.
