By RIA Novosti,
Moscow : Russia and China plan to set up a regional disaster management centre as part of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), a Russian emergencies ministry official said Friday.
The SCO, a regional bloc comprising Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan, primarily addresses security issues, but has recently moved to include economic and social projects as well to their agenda..
“We are discussing the possibility of setting up an international disaster management centre in the Asia-Pacific region with headquarters in Krasnoyarsk [Russia’s Far East],” said Yury Brazhnikov, head of the Emergency Situations Ministry’s international cooperation department.
“The prospects for this cooperation are enormous; we need each other,” he said.
He also said Russia will continue to help China cope with the consequences of the May 12 earthquake as the death roll from the disaster rose Friday to over 55,000 people with at least 25,000 still missing.
The quake affected eight southwestern provinces of China, with Sichuan bearing the brunt.