Medvedev urges global system to fight disasters

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RIA Novosti, PUBLISHED April 15, 2011

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Thursday called for international legislation to prevent and reduce the impact of disasters similar to the crisis at the quake-stricken Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan.

"We should create a mechanism for the prevention and containment of both man-made accidents and natural disasters and make it available for any country that wishes to be part of it," the president said in comments carried by state news channel Rossiya 24.

"We need to think about how to create such legislation," he went on, adding that current international law was ineffective in situations where "catastrophes take on cross-border dimensions."

Work is continuing to cool Fukushima's nuclear cores after cooling systems were knocked out by a March 11 earthquake and tsunami.

Medvedev was speaking after a BRICS summit in the southern China resort of Sanya, where he met with the leaders of other BRICS nations - China, India, Brazil and South Africa.

Topics: Russia, Safety

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