Evacuation of fishermen completed off Sakhalin.

YUZHNO-SAKHALINSK, January 19 (Itar-Tass) - An operation to evacuate
fourteen fishery workers from two ice-nipped seiners off Sakhalin island
has been completed. A MI-8 helicopter delivered the seamen to the nearest
inhabited area.
An official in the press service of the Russian Ministry for
Emergencies (RME) department for Sakhalin region has told Itar-Tass that
the state of the evacuees' health does not give rise to apprehensions. The
people were taken on board while the helicopter was hovering overhead
without landing. The helicopter pilots had to make two flights to bring
all the evacuees to the shore. Prior to departure, the fishery workers
mothballed the seiners which will be freed from ice captivity, the ice
situation permitting.
On January 14, the Kholmsk-registered seiners, the MRS-150-314 and the
MRS 150-299, while engaging in navaga fishing, were nipped in ice in the
Terpeniye (patience) Gulf (off the eastern coast of the island).
Three ships of icebreaking class set out from various ports, seeking
to force their way to the stricken seiners but to no avail. Ice in the
area (the southern part of the Terpeniye Gulf) is about 80 centimetres
thick in some places.

.Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk builds quake-resistant houses.

VLADIVOSTOK, January 19 (Itar-Tass) - Two multi-storeyed apartment
houses capable of enduring earthquakes with a magnitude of eight to nine
points are being built in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk for first time.
An official in the Sakhalin Region Ministry of Construction has told
Itar-Tass that the city adopted a programme for constructing such
residential buildings everywhere. The first two houses have seven and nine
storeys.
Quake-resistant construction was prompted by Sakhalin's two
devastating earthquakes. On May 28, 1995, an earth jolt measuring 7.5
points fully destroyed Neftegorsk Township, killing about 2,000 people. On
August 2, 2007, an earthquake measuring six to seven points rocked the
town of Nevelsk, killing two people and injuring more than ten, and
heavily damaging 239 houses and 29 other buildings. A decision was made to
pull down all of them.
Over the past two years, almost 1,500 new apartments in
seismic-resistant houses have been built for Nevelsk residents. New
buildings have been also constructed for customs men, border guards,
firemen, judicature personnel, and staff of other state institutions.
The programme for the construction of new buildings in place of the
earthquake-flattened ones is to be completed in 2010. A new library has
been also built there and a monument to fishermen restored. The monument
was ruined by the earth jolt.
Sakhalin Region Governor Alexander Khoroshavin said, "While
eliminating the aftermath of the earthquake, we gained a unique experience
which must be used effectively subsequently in the sphere of housing
construction". Multi-storeyed houses are being built in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk
with due regard for the consequences of the Nevelsk earthquake.

.TETS-2 thermal power station prepares for use of gas.

PETROPAVLOVSK-KAMCHATSKY, January 19 (Itar-Tass) - The Tets-2 thermal
power station here has begun preparations for operating on gas, an
official in the press service of the Kamchatskenergo Company told
Itar-Tass on Tuesday.
The need to reconstruct the reinforced-concrete smoke stack of the
power station has become one of the main problems. It will take at least
six months to do that. In order to avoid a shutdown of the station, it has
been decided to erect a makeshift smokestack weighing 247 tonnes, which
will be ensuring the station's operation during the repair of the main one
and subsequently it will be dismantled.
Simultaneously, work has been launched to prepare for the construction
of the main facilities for the supply of gas to the Station (high-pressure
pipelines, a gas regulation point). Part of the equipment, specifically
units of the gas regulation point have already been manufactured and await
delivery to Kamchatka from Vladivostok. A sizeable shipment of gas
equipment for the Kamchatka-based Tets-2 from Moscow is expected in
February. In September-October, "all the three boilers of the TETS-2 must
be ready for gas liquefaction," the Kamchatskenergo official said.
Three boilers are currently installed at the thermal power station.
They can operate on both gas and fuel oil. The latter will remain as a
reserve fuel for the station to switch over to it in case of emergency.
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