Wednesday, August 11, 2010

    Sorry for being away from blogging for such a long time. Some real life events kept me busy, thank you all for the kind words of support about the fires in Russia. To be honest, I wasn't going to post about it until I received today the comment from Karin Corbin -  well, we get so many contradictory news and reports, I decided that it would be better to write about it. As usual, sorry for my English.
As you know I live in Moscow, for the last week we had terrible toxic smog. That's what you could see just a day ago:


      It was hard to be on the street, hard to breathe, you could hardly see the buildings just 300 meters away.You were going outside and it felt like it wasn't  real, like it was some Silent Hill. People had to wear facemasks. The death rate in Moscow reached 700 a day (!). You can imagine what a nightmare it was - especially for people who had no air conditioning at home: you can't open the windows because of smog, and you can't keep them shut because of the heat: it was about 40 C outside. What made me mad and sad is that our Moscow mayor was not in the city, he was on holidays somewhere in Europe and had no intentions of coming back. He had no time for us, but found time to save his bees (He's a bee's keeper, apiarist).We were said that Moscow government opened several social centers for all who were suffering from such weather conditions, they promised air conditioning and food and everything, but in fact NONE of these centers had air conditioning, only few were open at all. Madness.
     It was even worse outside Moscow, still is. Not enough people to fight fire, not enough equipment, you won't read it in newspapers, just from russian bloggers -they write in their blogs that in some regions people don't even try to put out the fires. Only now our government admitted that some are out of control.  You feel really helpless seeing that our prime minister or president have to go to the suffering regions themselves just to try to control the situation. But seems like they can't do it. So anger is growing, nobody can't stop it.
    My Mom came to visit me these days, and we basically had to stay at home. Thankfully, the smog has gone for now, but now the town I was born ( it's in Urals region) is suffering from smog.
      Here (official site of Prime Minister) you can see web cameras from the villages that were destroyed by the fires. They were installed to control the reconstruction and rebuilding.  Somehow there's no such link in English version of the site.

14 comments:

The Old Maid said...

I was thinking of you these days. I am relief to read you and your family are all right. Hope either the firemen will damp the fire or there will be the rain to do it.:)This year is so strange, we have the flood the second time in row, you - the fire.

Susanne said...

I feel very sorry for you in this situation. I hope things will get better soon, and I am glad to hear that you and your family are allright.
Love, Susanne

Heleni said...

Oh I'm so sorry for you. I hope that the situation get better soon and I wish you very much toughness

gr.Heleni

Bözse said...

I wish you strength to endure both the smog and the hot. All the world is suffering the weird weather of this year. As if all the environmental forces want to demonstrate their power over us. I hope you will shortly get rid of this terrific condition!

Bözse said...

I wish you strength to endure both the smog and the hot. All the world is suffering the weird weather of this year. As if all the environmental forces want to demonstrate their power over us. I hope you will shortly get rid of this terrific condition!

Birgitta said...

Feel sorry for you.

otterine said...

Sending you good wishes that things get better soon!

Heather said...

Thanks for the first hand photos. So sorry to hear what you and your country are going through.

Irene said...

So sorry to hear you're all suffering the smog - I hadn't heard anything about it. Good to hear that it has lifted by now. Hopefully it wont come back!

Maria Jose said...

I'm so sorry for you ! Someday I would like to see Red Square,must be epectacular.I hope everything is better soon,I send you much encouragement!

Glenda said...

I do hope that your situation gets better soon.
I know how strange and horrid it can be; I was in Sydney Australia during bad bush fires - it's very unnerving.

Neomig said...

Dear Victoria
I just read what you wrote- I can imagine the frustration and helplessness you are feeling. So much money is in Russia but in a few hands, and the whole system doesn't seem to work after so many years after Perestroika.....
I can also identify because when we here ( israel) are in trouble , we just get mud thrown in our faces from the rest of the world and have to deal with the impossible ( sometime) situation,
the missjugement ect...
I wish you and your people to recover!I adore your work.
Neomi

Jennifer Hatt said...

It is the most unlikly places that you dicover what life is like for others around the world. Im sorry to hear what kind of enviroment you are dealing with. I live in Canada and am very lucky to be here. I know that as my son has had numerous heart operations and if we lived somewhere else we would not have been able to save his life. My family and I do all that we can by trying to reduce our consumption and not use chemicals or buy them at all. I believe that chemicals impact those we do not see. My heart goes out to you and all your Country. May God bless you and keep you in Peace. Hugs Jenn

Roelie said...

The smog must have been terrible. I followed the news about the fires and Moscow. A smog days was equivalent to smoking 100 cigarettes a day.
Long time ago I was in Moscow and it is a beautiful city and would like to go back once
Wish you a calm weather for the coming period.

Greetings, Roelie