Civil defense team involved in elimination of Almaty storm consequences

Kazakhstan Ministry of Emergency Situations sent 127 people from the civil defense for elimination of May 17 storm consequences in Ile-Alatau National Park, Tengrinews.kz reports. According to Almaty Department of Emergency Situations, a special camping area has been equipped for the team, food and facilities have been arranged. All necessary equipment has been supplied. As per deputy chairman of the Commission for Forestry Management of the Ministry of Agriculture Igor Koval, cleaning of Ile-Alatau National Park off fallen trees has been accelerated. In particular, branch cutting started after the meeting attended by Almaty Akim (Mayor) Akhmetzhan Yessimov and Emergency Situations Minister Vladimir Bozhko. According to Koval, timber will be partially sold, the rest will be processed at the territory of the park. However, this requires installation for mini-plants close to heap of fallen trees. As per Koval, 480 hectares of forest was damaged by the storm, which makes the total of 97 thousand cubic meters of timber. The plan is to clean off 70 hectares this year, which requires 76 million tenge ($520 thousand). Elimination of the consequences in general requires 250 million tenge ($1.7 million). Yessimov said that there are no problems with financing. The Emergency Situations Department reminded that there is still a threat of sliding and falling of the trees in the area. Fire-hazardous period has already started in the mountains and presence of tourists in the areas of fallen trees may cause massive fires.