Cruel Summer in Russia

[marmar]

Aug. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Russia’s record heat wave may already have taken 15,000 lives and cost the economy $15 billion as fires and drought ravage the country.

At least 7,000 people have probably died in Moscow as a result of the heat, and the nationwide death toll is likely to be at least twice that figure, according to Jeff Masters, co- founder of Weather Underground, a 15-year-old Internet weather service that gathers information from around the world.

“The Russian population affected by extreme heat is at least double the population of Moscow, and the death toll in Russia from the 2010 heat wave is probably at least 15,000, and may be much higher,” Masters said late yesterday on his blog.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin took to the air today to douse a forest fire south of Moscow. The heat wave may slice 1 percent off of Russia’s $1.5 trillion economy this year because of lower agricultural output and reduced activity in other areas such as industry, Alexander Morozov, chief economist at HSBC Holdings Plc in Moscow, said in an e-mail today.

Russia may harvest a third less grain than last year because of drought, Putin said yesterday. Companies such as automaker OAO AvtoVAZ have curbed production, and restaurants in Moscow are seeing a decline in customers as residents avoid smoke from wildfires that is blanketing the city.

Putin, 57, is leading government relief efforts, banning grain exports until the end of the year and traveling to the worst affected areas. State television showed him in the cockpit of a Be-200 firefighting plane today as it scooped up water from a river to extinguish two fires in the Ryazan region. ..........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://noir.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601010&sid=a_QlvpCXMTzs