MOSCOW: Russia on Friday (Mar 30) declared a "high alert" in a town where noxious fumes have leaked from a landfill site, distributing masks and respirators to residents who have held repeated protests. The said it was closely watching the situation in Volokolamsk, a town of around 20,000 people about 120 kilometres west of

Residents have long demanded the closure of a landfill site that has been emitting a noxious sulphurous smell, in a rare case of coordinated grass-roots civil action. Last week, doctors treated dozens of children who complained of dizziness and nausea because of fumes from the Yadrovo landfill site near the town, which is in the Moscow region. A spokesman for the regional emergencies ministry said that "a state of high alert" had been imposed in the town as of March 30 and that monitoring of the environment "will be stepped up" with "non-stop" testing of air quality. The spokesman said local authorities have also begun distributing medical masks and respirators to those who need them. "We are in constant touch with the regional authorities and the government over this," President Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in Moscow on March 30. "Everyone understands that this is a complicated problem, that it cannot be solved overnight," he said. The emergencies ministry said there was no need to evacuate residents or declare a formal state of emergency because air pollution levels as of March 30 did not exceed permissible limits. Officialshave said they willl stop adding to the waste dump by the end of the month and install a decontamination system by June, which they said should protect residents until a new facility is eventually built. The measures went into effect on March 30 in Volokolamsk, a town of around 20,000 people about 120 kilometers west of Moscow, after thousands of residents on March 29 held a rally demanding that authorities formally declare a state of emergency. "The presidential staff has been in touch with the leaders of the respective regions, that is, Moscow and the Moscow Region, and the government. Russia sends almost all its rubbish to landfills and there is no obligation for people to recycle household waste, creating a growing problem despite the country's vast territory.
The government of Russia declares a state of emergency in Volokolamsk over toxic hydrogen sulphide fumes leaking from a dump at at least ten times permitted concentrations.