Authorities declare state of emergency in Kamchatka’s district affected by volcanic ash

The state of emergency has been introduced in the Ust-Kamchatka district, where several settlements were affected by the ash fall during the eruption of the Shiveluch volcano, the district’s head, Oleg Bondarenko, said on April 22 on his Telegram channel.

"The main result of the commission on emergencies is the introduction in the territory of the Ust-Kamchatka municipal district of the state of emergency. The commission unanimously adopted such a decision. The emergency zones are: the settlements of Klyuchi and Kozyrevsk, the village of Maysky," the statement said, TASS reports.

Earlier, Bondarenko noted that the measures to eliminate the consequences of the ashfall did not lead to the proper result, but exceeded the expected amount of financial costs.

Kamchatka Governor Vladimir Solodov said he would ask the government for help with children's recovery and medical examinations after the Shiveluch eruption. According to him, the main discomfort for local residents now is the large volume of ash and mud. Russian President Vladimir Putin reacted to the words of the head of the region, saying that he is waiting for a request for federal help.

The Shiveluch volcano started erupting on the night of April 11 and by the morning the ash cloud over the volcano reached 20 km above sea level, with the resulting ash plume covering an area ranging from 240 to 400 kilometers. As a result, a record amount of ash fell out in the village of Klyuchi - up to 20 cm over the last 60 years. Ashes also fell in the settlements of Maysky and Kozyrevsk. The explosion from the eruption destroyed most of the volcano dome.

Shiveluch is one of the largest volcanoes on Kamchatka with a height of 3,283 meters. It consists of three elements: the "Old Shiveluch" stratovolcano, an ancient caldera, and the active "Young Shiveluch." The lava dome of "Young Shiveluch" is 2,500 meters high. The volcano is located at the intersection of the Kuril-Kamchatka and Aleutian island arcs at a distance of 50 km from the village of Klyuchi in the Ust-Kamchatsky District and 450 km from the regional capital, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky.