Russians say the main reason behind wildfires is natural disasters (43%). Other 38% blame people. And only 11% put the blame on the authorities.
MOSCOW, August 30, 2010. Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) presents the data describing if Russians track the course of combating wildfires, what they think the main reasons for the disaster are, how they assess the performance of authorities in combating wildfires and what their suggestions for predicting such a disaster in the future are.
Almost all Russians (84%) tracked the course of fight against fires, including 40% of those who did so regularly and 44% - from time to time. Only 14% of respondents did not pay any attention to wildfire news. Those who track the course of fighting against fires are basically Muscovites and St.Petersburgians (50%), as well as those living in the Central Federal District of Russia (49%). Those aged 18-24 (21%), as well as residents of the Urals (21%), Far-Eastern (21%) and North Caucasus (20%) Districts of Russia showed no interest towards combating wildfires.
Russians say, the main reason behind this summer wildfires are summer heat and dry weather (43%); however, the same proportion of respondents (38%) blame people who damage forests by their irresponsible activities. Only every tenth (11%) think that the large-scale fires were resulted from authorities` inactivity (11%); most of those who think so are Muscovites and St.Petersburgians (24%), as well as residents of the Central Federal District of Russia (21%). Rarer respondents mentioned poor technical basis of the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations and fire prevention (6%), lack of control over forests (6%) and sabotage (6%).
Most Russians think the main responsibility for the spread of wildfires lies on the people themselves (40%). Every fourth (28%) blame government institutions which are in charge of fire prevention (Ministry of Natural Resources, Federal Forestry Agency and others), rarer - local (23%) and federal (22%) authorities. Few Russians (13%) consider that wildfires are natural disasters which cannot be predicted, thus no one is to blame for that. Those who oppose them are metropolitan residents blaming authorities, rather than people. Forty-one percent of metropolitan residents think that those who are in charge of preventing wildfires are special government institutions; 34% point out local authorities; 31% - regional authorities; 29% - federal authorities.
The authorities` efforts in combating wildfires are assessed by Russians at 3 points (average of 3.34 points out of 5). The most effective ones were the Ministry of Emergency Situations and Russian Fire Service (3.73 points); the least effective ones were local authorities (2.99 points). Those who gave lowest assessment were residents of Saint Petersburg and Moscow (average of 2.8 points). The performance of the Ministry of Emergency Situations and Fire Service were highly assessed by Far-Easterners (4.24 points) who also gave the highest assessment of the president`s and government`s performance (4.08). Those who highly evaluated the work of regional and local authorities are respondents residing in the Urals Federal District (3.41 and 3.49 respectively).
Russians report that the control over the forestry should be strengthened (14%) and the technical basis of the Fire Service as well as the Ministry of Emergency Situations (14%) should be improved to prevent large-scale wildfires in the future. Russians introduce the following measures to reduce the wildfire risk: to conduct preventive measures (10%), information campaigns among population (9%), and to toughen penalties for setting wildfires (9%). Russians also proposed to bring back the institution of forestry officer and voluntary fire brigade (8%), to extinguish fire more efficiently (5%), to establish order in the forests (3%) and irrigate peat bogs (2%). Some respondents think people should feel responsibility for fires and treat forests with care (5%). Many Russians were hard to point out any measures against wildfires (36%).
The initiative Russian opinion polls were conducted on August 21-22, 2010. 1600 respondents were interviewed at 140 sampling points in 42 regions of Russia. The margin of error does not exceed 3.4%.
Do you track the course of combating wildfires in our country? | ||||||
| Total respondents | Age | ||||
18-24 | 25-34 | 35-44 | 45-59 | 60 and above | ||
Yes, regularly | 40 | 28 | 34 | 41 | 46 | 46 |
Yes, from time to time | 44 | 48 | 45 | 45 | 42 | 40 |
No | 14 | 21 | 18 | 10 | 10 | 12 |
Hard to tell | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 |
In your opinion, what are the main reasons behind this summer wildfires in Russia? (open-ended question, not more than three answers) | ||
| Total respondents | Including residents of Moscow and St.Petersburg |
Heat, dry weather, lack of rains | 43 | 50 |
People's negligence and irresponsibility | 38 | 29 |
Inaction of authorities | 11 | 24 |
Poor technical basis of the Ministry of Emergency Situations and Fire Service, lack of qualified personnel | 6 | 6 |
Sabotage | 6 | 9 |
Lack of control over forests, reduced amount of forestry officers | 6 | 6 |
Littered forests, landfills | 1 | 1 |
Other | 1 | 0 |
Hard to tell | 15 | 6 |
In your opinion, who is responsible for large-scale wildfires spread over all Russian territory? (not more than two answers) | ||
| Total respondents | Including residents of Moscow and St.Petersburg |
People themselves | 40 | 25 |
Special government institutions (Ministry of Natural Recourses, Ministry of Emergency Situations et cet.) | 28 | 41 |
Local authorities (city, town) | 23 | 34 |
Federal authorities, Government | 22 | 29 |
Regional authorities | 14 | 31 |
No one; this is a natural disaster which cannot be predicted | 13 | 5 |
Enterprises | 1 | 1 |
Other | 1 | 0 |
Hard to tell | 4 | 1 |
Could you assess the effectiveness of efforts in combating wildfires? | |||||||||
| In general, over all Russian territory | Central Federal District | North Western FD | Southern FD | Volga FD | Urals FD | Siberian FD | Far Eastern FD | North Caucasus FD |
Ministry of Emergency Situations, Fire Service | 3,73 | 3,78 | 3,75 | 3,20 | 3,73 | 3,89 | 3,58 | 4,24 | 3,96 |
President, Government, Federal authorities | 3,61 | 2,92 | 2,94 | 3,10 | 3,04 | 3,41 | 2,98 | 3,05 | 2,28 |
Regional authorities, head of regional authorities | 3,03 | 2,86 | 3,06 | 3,20 | 3,07 | 3,49 | 3,02 | 3,20 | 2,38 |
Local authorities, major of city/town | 2,99 | 3,54 | 3,58 | 3,47 | 3,69 | 3,73 | 3,44 | 4,08 | 3,72 |
Average assessment | 3,34 | 3,28 | 3,33 | 3,24 | 3,38 | 3,63 | 3,25 | 3,64 | 3,09 |
In your opinion, what should be done to prevent large-scale wildfires in the future? (open-ended question, not more than three answers) | |
Strengthen control over forests | 14 |
Improve technical basis of the Russian Fire Service, MES; increase the number of employees | 14 |
Conduct preventive measures | 10 |
Conduct information campaigns; teach fire safety | 9 |
Toughen penalties for setting fires in the forests; make forests barred to the public | 9 |
Bring back the institution of forestry officers and voluntary fire brigades | 8 |
Be attentive and treat forests with care | 5 |
Respond quickly in emergency situations | 5 |
Establish order in the forests, remove litter | 3 |
Irrigate peat bogs | 2 |
Other | 2 |
Hard to tell | 36 |
Note: Using materials from the site www.wciom.ru or wciom.com, as well as distributed by VCIOM, the reference to the source (or hyperlink for the electronic media) is obligatory!