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22 January, 2001 by Joe Lowry in Irkutsk Siberia is known for its bitter climate, but for Tanya, a 34-year-old mother of two, a severe cold spell has been personally devastating; she has just had half of one foot and another three toes amputated because of severe frostbite. The burns unit in the local hospital in Irkutsk, southern Siberia, was struggling to cope as over 200 people were admitted with frostbite, when temperatures reached minus 50 degrees centigrade last week (apartments are built to withstand temperatures of minus 35.) "I was walking home, didn't notice the cold, but then I started falling over. Some railway workers brought me here. I don't know what I will do now - my husband has no job and I guess I won't be able to work again." Tanya's main hope is for a disability allowance to help her take care of her two daughters. Although Siberia is no stranger to freezing conditions, people are particularly hit by an energy crisis billed as the worst since before World War Two. The cold has prompted fuel price hikes and shortages. Some Siberian coal mines are reported frozen solid. Irkutsk hospital management was thankful for the timely delivery of American Red Cross/USDA food supplies which have helped feed the unexpected influx of patients. The American Red Cross is working with the Russian Red Cross in a project which is distributing 22,000 tonnes of food in eight regions of Siberia. Packages of flour, rice, beans, buckwheat and vegetable oil are being given to 40,000 particularly vulnerable families and to 25,000 beneficiaries in institutions - orphanages, psychiatric institutions, homes for the elderly and disabled, oncology dispensaries and children's boarding schools. "This food aid comes at an appropriate time for families and institutions. It means they can use some of their sparse income to supplement their diets, to buy extra warm clothes or fuel, pay heating bills and so on," says Ramsey Rayyis, American Red Cross project coordinator. Siberia is not the only region of Russia to be hit by a severe winter. In Vladivostok, the capital of the far-eastern Primorye, residents are also struggling to cope with minus 50 temperatures and a near-total power blackout. Meanwhile schools remain closed, apartments go unheated and fuel is in scant supply. The mayor of Vladivostok put it simply: "the energy system of Primorye has collapsed". David Mitchell, a Canadian Red Cross/Federation delegate in Vladivostok reports: "the situation is very bad. There's a good six inches of ice on the street, and it's a hilly city, which makes life very tough for elderly people. I've had power for eight hours out of 48, and no hot water." Like most of the city, Mitchell has a cold meal in the evening, reads with the aid of a battery-operated light, and wraps up in three sweaters before going to bed. "It's back to basic survival. Everyone is doing whatever they can to keep warm, but the problem now is that there isn't a candle left in the city," says Mitchell, who is working with the local Russian Red Cross branch. |
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Tanya,
a mother of two, has just half a foot amputated because of severe
frostbite. (p6082).
.
