Geology 9 Russia Blog

Russia's most common dangerous weather is "heavy rainfalls and floods, forest and peat fires, and strong winds that help spread the fires" ( Climate Scorecard ). The most active time period for these occurrences is from May to September each year due to specific atmospheric conditions.  The weather was especially extreme in 2015 when powerful wind in the Republic of Khakasiya reached up to 31 m/s during a hot, dry season and caused massive damage to grids, trees, and 1,371 private houses where twenty-three people died. The next year heavy rainfall in Rostov-on-Don resulted in flooded streets and sinkholes, leaving six injured and one dead.  Fortunately, the Unified Emergency Prevention & Response State System (RSChS) was created in Russia in 1992 to alert the population of dangerous weather and keep citizens safe. The organization is responsible for forecasting alerts, preparing the masses for natural disasters, and reserving financial and material resources.  In...

Landslides threaten over 725 Russian cities, including major cities such as Moscow and Volgograd. The southeastern coast of Russia undergoes the highest amounts of mass waste, as shown by the map below. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) attributes the frequency increases of mass wasting to changes in heat waves, glacial retreat, and/or permafrost degradation that contribute to slope instabilities, mass movements, and glacial lake outburst floods. Additionally, the IPCC also believes that temperature changes affect bedrock stability. In conclusion, scientists are pinning global warming as the main cause of the increase in disasters like landslides and avalanches. Sources:  https://www.climatechangepost.com/russia/avalanches-and-landslides/ https://thinkhazard.org/en/report/204-russian-federation/LS Photo Source: https://thinkhazard.org/en/report/204-russian-federation/LS