EMERCOM of Russia
Country Report
CONTENTS
1. Unified State System for Emergency Situations - Prevention and Response Russian
Emergency Situations System Organigram *2. The Ministry, called to save *3. Ministry of Russian Federation for Civil Defence, Emergencies and Elimination ofConsequences of Natural Disasters *4. Crisis Management Centre (CMC) *5. Rescue troops *6. Search and Rescue Service *7. Central Airmobile Rescue Detachment (TSENTROSPAS) *8. Canine service *9. Civil protection academy *10. Russian international training center for rescuers *11. Technical safety and new technologies *12. Aviation on Emercom of Russia's service *13. Scientific researches in the field of civil protection *14. Safety school *15. Exhibitions and fairs *16. EMERCOAM of Russia’s international activities *1. Unified State System for
Emergency Situations - Prevention and Response Russian Emergency Situations
System Organigram

THE TASKS OF THE SYSTEM:
Execution of state expertise, supervising and control in the field of population and regions
protection against emergency situations;Preparation and implementation of the legal and economic regulations connected withpopulation and regions protection against emergency situations;
Implementation of the purpose-oriented and scientific-technical programmes on emergency
situations prevention;
Stand-by provision of the forces and assets allocated for emergency prevention andresponse;
Information collection and processing. exchange and forwarding on the issue of population
and regions protection against emergency situations
Awareness of the population for the actions in case of emergency situations occurrence;
Forecasting and evaluation of possible social and economic consequences and effects
resulted out of emergency situations;
Accumulation of financial and material resources reserves for emergency response;
Emergency situations mitigation and response;
Execution of the social protection measures for the population suffered as a result of
emergency situation and, inter alia, humanitarian operations implementation
International cooperation in the field of the population and regions protection against
emergency situations.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Your Excellency, Your Ministry’s record shows quite a lot of commendable deeds.
How can you possibly spell out the EMERCOM of Russia’s credo?
- We are following one simple guidance: the human’s life has the top priority, regardless ofnationality, religion, beliefs and skin colour. Everyone has a legal right to be rescued, therefore
・to get our assistance, and we are ready to provide it.
A fragment of an Interview, granted by Mr.S.Shoigu, Minister of Russian Federation for Civil
Defence, Emergencies and Elimination of Consequences of Natural Disasters (EMERCOM of
Russia), to the Delovoy Mir”(“Business World”) newspaper.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2. The Ministry, called to save
Ministry of Russian Federation for Civil Defence, Emergencies and Elimination of Consequencesof Natural Disasters(EMERCOM of Russia) was established on January 10, 1994, according to
the President of Russia’s Ordnance, although EMERCOM of Russia used to celebrate its
birthday on December 27, as it was the exact day in the year of 1990, when the Russian Corps of
Rescuers had been created, with the purpose to provide swift and effective response in case of
emergency situations occurrence.
In the period of six years of its existence, the Ministry completed a number of the operations,
resulted with the human lives, huge natural and material resources spared. EMERCOM of
Russia represents a federal body of executive power and, as such, is tasked with the following:

Governmental policy proposals drafting in the field of civil protection, emergency
situations prevention and response, including nuclear disasters and accidents;
provision of functioning and further development for the Unified Emergency Situations
Prevention and Responce State System;
Control over Russian Federation Civil Protection as well as Search and Rescue Service;
implementation of activities in the field of emergency situations prevention and response;
control over actions connected with wide-scale disasters, accidents and another emergency
situations response;
supervision over the legal financial spending of the resources, allocated by the Government
for emergency situations response activities;
organisation of training and preparedness of the population for the proper reaction andactions in case of emergency situations occurrence.

The Government’s strategy to decrease risks and to mitigate theconsequences of the emergency situations designed for the period up
to the year of 2012 exemplifies one of the principal directions in the
Russian Government’s policy, which is supposed to be implemented by

EMERCOM of Russia.
First Vice-Minister Yu.Vorobiev

3. Ministry of Russian Federation for Civil Defence, Emergencies and Elimination ofConsequences of Natural Disasters

4. Crisis Management Centre (CMC)
EMERCOM of Russia’s CMC represents a main body for the day-to-day management of a
Unified Emergency Prevention and Response State System (UEPRSS) and, as such, is tasked
with the following:

1. Provision of firm and continuos management of the forces and assets allocated for emergency
prevention and response.
2. Provision of necessary information for the system as a whole and for EMERCOM of Russia.
3. Coordination of all UEPRSS segments activities. CMC principal services are on stand-by duty
round the clock. Apart of communications and hardware experts, duty service comprises chief
duty officer and duty shift officers. Chief duty officer is to organize an immediate initial
response on an emergency situation until eventual deployment of the emergency response
temporary HQs.

Duty shift officers are responsible for the information’s collection, evaluation and processing
automatically, as well as for supporting the emergency response temporary Hqs and meeting its
informational requirements. This shift is capable of gathering information on several emergency
situations occurred on federal or regional level, as well as of monitoring situation on the placesof earlier disasters emergency response.
The duty shift processes and enters into unified information net of the Ministry the information
about all emergency situations originated by all Russian Federation entities and by the relevant
duty services of the federal ministries and agencies. This particular net is receiving an
information out of the regions and is storing operational and reference information on theemergency situations which is used by the forecast services. Processed forecasts then are sent
back to Crisis Management. Centre to represent a base for any future decisions taken by theleadership of the Ministry.
In general, the unified information space has been created which allows close interaction with
the President’s Office, Russian Government and another sister-ministries and agencies.

5. Rescue troops
Civil protection troops numbered now 23,000 of personnel, represent a backbone of the Russian
Ministry of Emergency Situations. Their tasks include the following:reconnaissance of the situation in the places of emergency situations occurrence;
localisation of emergency situations; implementation of rescue and another recovery andmitigation works;
・provision of relief, assistance and evacuation of the affected persons;・population life support.
These troops are composed of the rescue brigades, mechanized civil protection regiments andbattalions, special protection companies and detached helicopters squadrons. They are armed
with the specialised equipment, such as engineering, medical, radiation, chemical and biologicalprotection. Nowadays civil protection troops are equipped with the modem devices andemergency rescue tools to implement their missions in the emergency situations zones, as wellas with the high-negotiating capabilities specialised vehicles.
In the peace time the civil protection troops are functioning within the framework of the Unified
Emergency Situations Prevention and Responce State System. As for the war time, they are
under control of the Civil Protection system. In any occasion ,their primarytask is to protect the country’s population and its territory while emergency situations.

6. Search and Rescue Service
The search and rescue services, built upon the base of different tourist' and Mountaineers'
rescue services represent a first-line asset in the framework of the Ministry's emergency
response services. Their main mission is to provide immediate and effective assistance to thepeople endangered with the emergency situations. In the course of the rescue works, the searchand rescue services coordinate their actions with the regional headquarters for civil protectionand emergency situations, along with the Interior Ministry and Health Ministry units anddetachments. They are greatly involved as well into the education programmes for the
population concerning the rules of behaviour in the open nature, first-aid provision in case of theaccidents.

Nowadays Russia counts 58 search and rescue services, deployed in the most vulnerable naturalor human created disasters regions.

7. Central Airmobile Rescue Detachment (TSENTROSPAS)--"The people of this courageous profession are quite frequently in the dead centre of the mostdangerous trials as earthquakes, floods, fires and alike. They do deserve our common gratitude
and appreciation for their selflessness, intrepidity and high motivation."("Rossiyskaya gazeta" newspaper)--

EMERCOM of Russia Rescue service’s pride and elite is represented by the Central Airmobile
Rescue Detachment, created back in 1992. It lists 310 of personnel, who are the top
professionals and consider their lives unworthy without saving peoples.
The principal services of “TSENTROSPAS” are the following: rescue, rescue works logisticalsupport, air support, transport, communications and information, expeditional, airmobile
hospital.
In conjunction with the different types of rescue operations implementation, the detachment isalso capable of unique airdropping of the assorted loads, equipment and the modules of the
airmobile hospital to the place of emergency situations occurrence.
The detachment is supplied with the highly diversified specialised equipment, life-supporting
devices, means of affected persons delivery, search and rescue, all types of communications,
including satellite ones, helicopters of Mi-8 and MBO-105 types, high-negotiating features
vehicles.
TSENTROSPAS implements immediate search and rescue works within Russian Federation
and abroad, delivers humanitarian supplies to the emergency situations zones, evacuates
population out of the disaster and social unrest areas. The rescuers of the detachment, where
eight among them are internationally certified, took part into 130 actions and operations in
Russia and in the foreign countries.

8. Canine service

Canine service is supposed to be the freshest one in the Ministry, although it is not possible
today to imagine the rescue works without the specially trained dogs. This service is responsible
for the training of the rescue dogs・conductors, as well as the drilling and training of the service

dogs which are widely used to search for the victims in case of earthquakes, explosions,buildings destruction and avalanches. There is a sufficient number of working dogs of thedifferent breed, like German shepherds, Russian spaniels, Newfoundlanders, Labradores,
American Staffordshire terriers.
This service may recall quite a number of operations to save the human lives and to search forthe victims, like earthquake in Neftegorsk, Kaspiysk, aircrash near Abakan, search for thesurvivors while avalanches in the Central Caucasus mountains.
Good relations are established with the sister-services of the foreign countries, which have quite
an experience in the service dogs' employment for the rescue operations, to name but a few:
Switzerland, Austria, France and the others.

9. Civil protection academy
The Civil Protection Academy, created in 1992, is the leading training-methodological andscientific center in the field of civil protection. The Academy is training the professionals on thestate and municipal levels of management, civil protection engineers for emergency situations,engineers with the mathematical education.
Nowadays there are 2 Russian Academy of Science members, 2 members-correspondents, 10
doctors and 44 candidates among the teaching personnel of the Academy.
Concentrating mostly on the scientific researches, Academy’s teachers are studying, evaluating
and processing national and international experience in the field of emergency situations
prevention and response, elimination of consequences of natural disasters and accidents,
population’s protection and life support, safety of the industrial facilities, economy’s mobilisation
preparedness. The Academy is also responsible for the management of the regional training andmethodology centers for civil protection and emergency situations.
Academy’s graduates are employed by the different ministries, federal and municipal executive
bodies, they are teaching in the higher education facilities and serving in the Civil Protection
Forces.
Since 1995, the Academy is training the foreign experts in civil protection in order to increase
their professional skills in accordance with the programmes, adopted by the International Civil
Defence Organization and UN Department of Humanitarian Affairs.

10. Russian international training center for rescuersThis Center was inaugurated in 1996 as an international facility of humanitarian nature.
Representing a structural branch of the Civil Protection Academy, the Center is dealing with thetraining and professional skills improvement of the rescuers and emergency rescue services’
experts.
The Center is situated in the vicinity of Moscow, in the town of Noginsk. It is equipped with themodern training facilities, as well as a unique training range which enables to simulate thedifferent types of emergency situations (devastation, debris of high story buildings, communaland power supply network wreckage, vehicles ・ accidents, fires etc.) in order to implement
emergency rescue works drills.
The Center’s instructors are the high class professionals, profoundly experienced in thepractical, scientific and training activities. The training methodology was prepared by
EMERCOM of Russia’s experts on the basis of the international law. Approximately 70 % of the
training time is allocated for the practical drills. and another 30 % - for the theoretical classes,
including fire fighting, medical and psychological education.
The principal modus operandi of the Center is represented in Its openness whichmakes it easily accessible and available for any countries and organizations.

11. Technical safety and new technologies
Technical safety for the Ministry’s services is ensured by a Special Centre of the Ministry,created in 1995, which was tasked with unified technical policy provision primarily, in the fieldof information protection soft-ware, by means of computer virus-killing programmes creationand implementation. Secondly, the Centre was licensed with certification tests rights, and a
special workshop was set up to ensure the highest degree of technical safety for the search,
rescue and another operations equipment This work shop is supposed to test and to issue
certificates on the equipment and tools which influence greatly by their quality the effectivenessof the Ministry’s rescue services activities.
Besides, the Centre implements unified technical approach to the navigation equipment for the
rescue operations. A programme called Leader Info-Navigation System U is worked out which
includes contemporary Russian and foreign technologies. Humanitarian supplies convoys safety
is ensured by the specially equipped escort vehicles. Such vehicles, due to their satellite or theother means of communications, provided permanent duplex radioexchange with thehumanitarian convoys while relief operationsin Chechnya, Georgia, former Yugoslavia, Rwanda.
Robotic equipment is coming to assist the Ministry’s rescuers as well. One of the best models in
the range of the unmanned small aircrafts, for example, which is used for the search operations,is a guided unmanned vehicle called Pronya with the digital photo camera on board. Economical
and user-friendly, it can fly over the territory on the distances up to 15 clicks. With its highprecision snapshots, Pronya could be of great assistance while affected persons searching as aresult of floods, avalanches and another emergency situations.

12. Aviation on Emercom of Russia's service
EMERCOM of Russia’s experience shows that nowadays it 15 not possible to implement
practically any serious task connected with emergency situations response without aviation
component. Aviation’s ability to deliver rescuers, equipment, medicine and different loads to theplaces of emergency situations occurrences almost in no time defines its role as a pillar, which
the mobility and effectiveness of the Russian emergency service is rested upon.
To mention an example of the new aviation technologies・creation and functioning there is theutilisation of the heavy transport aircrafts of “IL76”type for the purpose of massive forest fires
fighting. The State Aviation Enterprise of the Ministry is equipped with five of them, fitted withthe special vapor dispensers (tanks) of 42 MT volume of water or fire extinguishing liquid. In
the year of 1996, these aircrafts were fighting forest fires in theregion of Khabarovsk, as well as participated in the firefighting on the oil depot in the vicinity of
Volgograd.
The aviation technologies ・ further development is connected primarily with new Russian
aircrafts acquisition. Soon it is planned to equip the Ministry with a multipurpose aircraft of“BE-200”type, capable of taking 12 MT of water on board while gliding on the water surface
which will increase greatly the effectiveness of the firefighting. New emergency rescue
helicopter of “Ka-226A”type is already cooked up, fitted with two “Alisson” engines.
This helicopter is expected to be better than the foreign ones of the same type and to solve theproblem of the rescue works implementation in the most complicated conditions like inside suchmegalopolises as Moscow and St-Petersburg.

13. Scientific researches in the field of civil protection

The All-Russian Research and Scientific Institute for Civil Protection and Emergency Situations
Problems is playing a leading role in scientific support and provision for EMERCOM of Russia’s
activities, It was established in 1976 and since then has completed more than 1000 scientificresearch and construction testing works which were widely recognized in the scientificcommunity. This is the only organization in Russia and CIS countries which is able to provide
complete solution of the principal scientific problems such as:
population and environment protection in case of the different types of disasters andaccidents;
creation, functioning and development of the systems to control, prevent and respond to
the emergency situations;
new technologies’ development, including the production of the rescue and searchequipment.

The institute is keeping a renewed bank of information on the natural and human-createdemergency situations on the Russian territory. Apart of this, it is dealing with the evaluation of
the potential risks in the different regions (to ensure security of the investments there), andwith the wide-scale researches in the field of nuclear materials stability and reactions indifferent environment.
On the base of this institute a new facility -Emergency Situations Monitoring and Forecasting
Agency is now being created.
The institute cooperates in its researches with more than 100 scientific and construction testingRussian organizations. It implements now researches connected with the space monitoring ofaccidents and disasters in accordance with one of the programmes developed by the EUR-OPA
Major Hazards Agreement

14. Safety school
One of the principal directions of EMERCOM of Russia’s activities is the familiarisation of the
population with the rules of behaviour in extreme situations. This task lays within themainstream of the state measures system to protect the population and the territories against
emergency situations.
Several years ago, a new training programme was introduced for the high-schooland professional education. It was called “Life-support safety basics ・ and aimed at thedevelopment of “human being self-protection ・ skills. Logically, this type of training proceedswith three following stages:
・definition of the threatening situation;・measures to avoid it;・sequence of actions in case of personal involvement occurrence.
The similar programme has been included into the educational process of the higher education
facilities, where the plan of training might be diversified according to the facility’s speciality.
Great attention in this programme is concentrated on the prevention of emergency situations,considering the degree of the professional necessity of it for the different groups of the students.
For example, the would-be engineers should be aware of the kind of the situations which might
happen. in the chemically endangered facility and what should be done in order to prevent suchoccurrence.
EMERCOM of Russia is working in close contact with mass-media agencies. In accordance with
the Ministry's request a special radio programme called “Survival school and a TV-programme
named “TV-guard” have been produced and aired regularly. These programmes explain thecorrect behaviour of a person in the extreme situation. Besides, the Ministry supports printed

publications aimed at increasing population’s awareness of the proper actions in emergency
situations. Its own illustrated magazine, having wide experience and proved traditions, isserving the same purpose.

15. Exhibitions and fairs
As experience shows, it is possible to increase the effectiveness of the emergency rescue works,
to diminish the period of emergency response and, at last, to minimize human and material
losses twice or even thrice capitalising on the improvement of the technical assets for the rescue
units.
Thus, EMERCOM of Russia holds annually an international exhibition called Rescue means
which becomes a presentation of the top-on-the-line samples for rescue equipment and tools
produced in Russia and abroad. Exhibition booths vary a lot by their issues covered, such as:・methods of natural and human-created disasters prevention and response;・rescue works implementation technology;
・emergency rescue and fire fighting equipment and tools;
・personal and group protection gear;
・chemical, radiation and ecological monitoring and control means;・special wear and equipment for the rescuers;
・prefabricated living facilities and tents;
・water purification systems;
・emergency ambulance and first-aid etc.
On such exhibitions expertise and evaluation commissions composed of EMERCOM of Russia’s
experts are working to evaluate and to choose the best samples of production. The popularity
and worthiness of Rescue means・exhibitions among the experts and producers is proved andconfirmed by the fact that the first one, called in the year of 1994, was at tended by 95
participants, whereas the fourth one, which is planned to be held in Moscow on summer-97, is
expected to gather more than 200 producers out of 20 countries.

16. EMERCOAM of Russia’s international activities
A number of emergency situations and their consequences might influence the neighbouring
countries, as well as the humanitarian disasters might endanger the whole regions. Thissituation requires finely tuned working cooperation on the contemporary international legal
basis. The Ministry develops multifaceted cooperation with the relevant emergency services andhumanitarian structures of United Nations, European Union, NATO and the most experienced
and developed countries in the field of common professional interests. EMERCOM of Russia isclosely working with the Russian Foreign Ministry in this direction. Several bilateral andmultilateral interstate agreements have been prepared and are now in force with many
countries - members of the Commonwealth of Independent States and another foreign states(Germany, Italy, France, Switzeriand, USA, Bulgaria etc.). New agreements on cooperation withsuch countries like Ukraine, Spain, Japan, China, Norway and Baltic states are in the process of
preparation.
In 1996, a Memorandum was signed in Moscow within the framework of Gor-Chemomyrdin
Commission between the governments of the Russian Federation and the United States ofAmerica on cooperation in the field of human-created emergency situations prevention anddisaster mitigation and response, which represented a new step on the road of cooperation
between two countries.
Same year, Mr.S.Shoigu, the Ministerof Russian Federation for Civil Defence, Emergencies andElimination of Consequences of Natural Disasters (EMERCOM of Russia) and Mr.X.Solana,
NATO’s Secretary-General, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding in the field of civil
emergency planning.
EMERCOM of Russia cooperates quite closely with the relevant international organizations,which coordinate different nations ・ efforts in the international rescue and humanitarian
activities, as well as training of national personnel for these purposes. They list UN Depertmentof Humanitarian Affairs (UN DHA), UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR),International Civil Defence Organization (ICDO). MERCOM of Russia perticipates within thedescribed range of international cooperation in the implementation of the World-wide long-term
programmes and projects, such as Military and Civil Defence Assets for Emergency Response,
World Food Programme” “Chemobyl” “World Aid, and the regional ones, for example, in Rwanda
and former Yugoslavia, to name but a few.
In 1995, the Russian National Corps for Emergency Humanitarian Response (RNCEHR) wasestablished by the Russian Government Resolution. This Corps is able to work independently in
any region of the world complying fully with UN standards. EMERCOM Agency has became themanaging and coordinating focal point of the Corps. Its main tasks include the following:- the establishment and development of the working relations with UN and anotherinternational humanitarian organizations; provision of the contemporary advanced machineryand equipment for the Corps;- coordination of the airmobile task forces actions in case of emergency situations occurrences
abroad;- presentation and development of Russian initiatives on the humanitarian actions
implementation;- attraction of the investments, necessary to support Russian integration to the world economy’ssystem within EMERCOM of Russia’s responsibilities.
According to the contract, signed with UNHCR, EMERCOM of Russia’s humanitarian trucking
convoys have been delivering humanitarian relief to the encircled
anclaves in Bosnia and Herzegovina and to the refugees and internally displaced persons in theformer Yugoslavia for three years. The similar convoys worked on the mountain roads ofGeorgia, frequently delivering fuel and lubricants for the Russian Orthodox religious communityof Dukhobores (“Spirit Fighters"). Swift and efficient actions of EMERCOM of Russia's aviationand trucking convoys in Tanzania and Zaire spared thousands of human lives and laid the basis
for the restoration of cooperation with the African countries.
In the year of 1997-1998, EMERCOM of Russia, together with the foreign scientists, is planningto continue the further realisation of the new airmobile technologies and another advanced
researches in the field of rescue machinery and tools, seismology and space monitoring.