Environment

Many Muscovites are getting out of town

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Global climate change is partly to blame for the abnormally hot and dry weather in Moscow, cloaked in a haze of smoke from wildfires, say researchers. The fires continue to burn in central and western Russia and the smoke and pollution has become unbearable for many in Moscow, and as Jessica Golloher reports, many are gettin’ out of town. (Flickr image: RiMarkin) Download MP3

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• Extreme weather in Asia and Europe
• Russia battles devastating fires

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KATY CLARK: I’m Katy Clark and this is The World. Wildfires continue to burn in central and western Russia. Economists suggest that the fires could reduce the country’s national output by up to 1%. The smoke and pollution has become unbearable for many in the capital, Moscow. And so, as Jessica Golloher reports, many are getting out of town.

JESSICA GOLLOHER:  Patience is wearing thin as everyone from babyshkas to kids cram onto an already packed express train. Destination, Domodedova Airport. Many of the passengers say they’re headed out of the pea soup like acrid smoke of Moscow for better, cleaner and more breathable air. American Charlotte Turner is one of them. She says she’s ecstatic to be finally headed home to Boston after spending time in what she describes as Smogeddon.

CHARLOTTE TURNER:  It’s like walking through a campfire. Everywhere is just smoky. You can’t see. Before I left, it wasn’t as bad. I came back last night and it’s been just hard to breathe and really terrible. Can’t even see 100 yards. It’s like smoking a pack of cigarettes on the street for four hours.

GOLLOHER: Standing outside the United check-in at Domodedova Airport in a Northwestern Law t-shirt, Derek Linkous looked relieved to be going back to Chicago. He says the Moscow smog ruined his vacation. He even tried to go home early, but everything was booked.

DEREK LINKOUS: There was just nothing to do in Moscow cause you would just – there’s nothing to do. You just sort of sit in your hotel room, maybe run out to the cafe and hope the cafe isn’t too smoggy. But I mean if you’re just going to sit in a hotel room you may as well just go home.

GOLLOHER: Muscovites commonly flee the city during the summer months. They take vacations just like everyone else. But aviation officials say people this season were desperate to leave. More than 100,000 people flew out of Moscow on Sunday. The highest volume so far this year. Travel agents reported package tours to destinations popular with Russians such as Egypt and Turkey were completely sold out. And an online check found that nearly 95% of trains from Moscow to St. Petersburg were completely sold out over the weekend. Lena Ivanova lives in the Moscow region. She says she’d love to get on a plane or take a vacation to get away from the toxic chemicals, but she can’t afford it. So she and her husband have packed up the car instead.

RUSSIAN SPEAKING

GOLLOHER: She says it’s dangerous here. It’s like we’re at war. She says we can’t breathe, we’re really frightened and we’re going to get out of here. Despite Ivanova’s readiness to flee the smoke and toxic fumes, her neighbor Vasiliey Ivanovich says he’s not budging.

RUSSIAN SPEAKING

GOLLOHER:  He says it’s my home. I’m not going anywhere. Where would I go? I’m not scared of anything. I know these firefighters are working around the clock to get these fires under control. I know the fires will stop soon. And with that, Ivanovich turned on his heels and walked into his house, disappearing through a cloud of thick smoke. The government may need more than Ivanovich’s positive approach. Officials have recently acknowledged that they can’t get the blazes under control and President Dmitry Medvedev has accepted aid such as planes and troops from several other countries. Some forecasters predict that the giant cloud of smoke covering the Moscow region won’t abate for at least several days. Making matters worse, temperatures are expected to remain near 100 degrees for at least a week with no rain in sight. For The World, I’m Jessica Golloher in Moscow.

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