Thread: Sayano-Shushenskaya hydroelectric power plant

It was not until this morning when hubby was surfing channels and somehow landed on RT (I did not even know we had that one) that I learned about this past Monday's deadly accident. When I went to research more about it online, CNN had one article and it was from, Monday and no further updates. I was able to locate an AP article from yesterday that also had some photographs and a small map (maps are always good for me).

I hope that no one from this forum had any loved ones invovled in this tragedy.

Last I heard, death toll was up to 69...

There were really tough days. A day before (Sunday, August 16th) there were two plane crashes: one just before the opening of the international air-show and avia-salon MAKS 2009 in Moscow two military fighters had bumped during aerobatics, one pilot was dead, one person was dead on the ground due to the falling plane; and another crash in Kaluga had been also during aerobatics, the pilot was dead. The Monday August 17th Sayano-Shushenskaya hydroelectric power plant accident, 69 dead, 6 are not found yet. At the same day suicide bombing act in Nazran at a police station, 20 killed, 140 injured.

What can I say, it's August.
I really don't know what is wrong with this month, but if you study recent history - nearly every major disaster happens exactly in August:

1991, Aug 19-21 Coup attempt in USSR.
1994, Aug 7 - Dam break in Bashkortostan 29 dead, 786 lost their homes.
1998, Aug 17 - Default of the Russian Central bank severed the economy.
1999, Aug 7 - Terrorists under the command of Basayev and Khattab invaded Dagestan.
2000, Aug 8 - Explosion in the underground walkway in Moscow, 12 dead, more than 100 wounded.
2000, Aug 13 - The "Kursk" submarine sunk. 118 dead.
2000, Aug 29 - Fire in the Ostankino tower. 3 dead.
2001, Aug 19 - Terrorist attack in Astrakhan, 8 dead, 58 wounded.
2002, Aug 19 - A transportation helicopter shot down in Grozny, 120 dead.
2003, Aug 1 - Terrorist attack in Mozdok, 50 dead, 80 wounded.
2004, Aug 21 - Terrorist attack in Grozny, over 60 dead.
2004, Aug 24 - An explosion on the bus stop in Moscow.
2004, Aug 24 - Terrorist explode 2 planes, 90 dead.
2004, Aug 31 - A kamikaze terrorist woman triggers an explosion near the Rizhskaya station. 10 dead.
2004, Sep 1st (well, this was not in August, but still very close) - Beslan tragedy. A whole school was taken hostage (1300 peple). 331 dead including 172 children.
Also in 2004 USA suffered from the Katherine hurricane, over a thousand dead.
2005, Aug 15 - A plane crash near Athens, 126 dead.
2005, Aug 16 - A plane crash in Venezuela, 160 dead.
2005, Aug 24 - A plane crash in Peru, over 40 dead.
2006, Aug 21 - A bomb explodes at Cherkizovsky market, 10 dead
2206, Aug 22 - A plane crash near Donetsk, 170 dead.
2007, Aug 13 - The train # 166 (Moscow - St. Petersburg) goes off the track.
2008, Aug 7 - A war in South Ossetiya begins. More than 2 thousand dead.
2008, Aug 20 - A fire in the plane flying from Madrid to Las Palmas 154 dead.
2008, Aug 24 - A plane crash, 68 dead.


Well, this list is far from being full. I noted such tendency myself. Nobody seems to be able to explain what's wrong with august. Of course, terrorist attacks and plane crashes happen in other months too, but the specialists of the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations note that August is the leader (there is 30% higher probability for some natural, industrial or social disaster or accident to happen in August rather than in some other month) . And the death toll seems to go much higher on leap years.

Ramil, I had never seen or heard of the August data before. Maybe part of has to do with the vacation timing and the end of summer travel. How it might be a "good" time for bad things to happen. Slow news cycles to capture more attention and maybe more airline flights so the chance of more error.

I will now stop and pause whenever I hear someone say the opening line from T. S. Eliot's, The Waste Land, "April is the cruellest month." It appears he may have been mistaken.

It's just stats. If one could explain things about planes then what about terrorists or industrial accidents... coups or wars... or world's financial crises? Let me remind that nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki also took place in August 1945. Just a coincidence, no doubt.

P.S. Almost forgot.
1883, August 27th - the most devastating volcano eruption in the modern history (36,417 died according to official stats).
Look here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1883_erupt ... smic_stage

Originally Posted by Ramil

then what about terrorists or industrial accidents... coups or wars... or world's financial crises?

about the terrorists, coups and that type of thing, that was what I meant about slow news cycle. It is a good time to act up and cause problems as there is nothing going on during the dog days of summer so they will get lots of attention.

Financial crises, well as everyone is at the beach, who is minding the store... so to speak.

I do understand your point though that it is all just data; yet, it is intersting data none the less and I will have to keep it in my back pocket for a possible school project for one of my girls.

Well, the list is spooky. It's almost like a curse on Russia... I wonder how August compares with other months for accidental deaths across the country. Assuming such stats are actually recorded...
Pretty scary!

Perhaps the Church should get involved well ahead of August next year to try and counter-weight the jinx?

I know many people will say it's just chance, or that it's manipulation / mis-use of statistics. But nevertheless it's uncomfortable to spend August waiting to hear about horrible accidents.

One pretty HORRIBLE thing did not happen in August though: Chernobyl accident. (I just checked).
I also checked Germanys declaration of war against USSR -- that was not in August either.

On the other hand, neither of these events actually took place IN Russia.....

Hm..

Yes, scary things do happen in other months. But the average number of events per any other month is lower than in it is for August.

Details of tragedy became known. Accident was the result that money intended for repair, has been laundered by heads of station. I am not surprising, it is a norm in Russia even if the cost are people's life. Pah! I would give them life imprisonment at hard labour, but I am sure these bastards will come off clear, if they have enough money, of course. Oh, I am bored to death with all this. Hands must be cut off, for evidential facts of bribery and money-laundering. And the result of punishment must be showed throughout the country. Then quality of a life, undoubtedly, has sharply increased. But... Who will have created laws incompatible with own well-being?

Originally Posted by delog

...but I am sure these bastards will come off clear, if they have enough money, of course. Oh, I am bored to death with all this. Hands must be cut off, for evidential facts of bribery and money-laundering. And the result of punishment must be showed throughout the country.

The main villian at least will come clear for sure! (Maybe some lesser thieves will be blamed but most likely they'll found another scapegoat). I strongly doubt that anyone will even accuse him:



When I see this red-headed f%$king asshole on TV I always think about what a shame that these guys hadn't success:
http://eng.expert.ru/printissues/exp...ie_prikrytiya/

While he was in head of РАО ЕЭС almost nothing was spent on infrastructure and equipment support and renewing - almost all profits were put into pockets. And I'm strongly afraid that this isn't the last accident. Now the company is cut to pieces and the bastard is leading new f%$king project.

That's disgusting! I agree that the person responsible should be punished - hard enough for others who are involved in similar scams to take notice.. You can't allow your country to be corrupted like some kind of 3rd rate "banana-republic" Corruption is like a trap that's really hard to get out of... Well, what a totally shameless and immoral person! Was he poor or just greedy and corrupted? What is his "excuse"?

Originally Posted by Johanna

Well, what a totally shameless and immoral person! Was he poor or just greedy and corrupted? What is his "excuse"?

Hah-hah-hah!!! Poor!!! This is probably the most hated person in Russia - the "architect" of robbing privatisation in 1993.

Oops Baz, I just saw your link... Anatoliy Chabais. Yeah it sounds familiar but I wasn't paying attention to the news from Russia in 1993... (It was usually just too depressing.) Actually, I had simply thought Yeltsin was responsible for those privatisations, and that he had a bit more than usual to drink when he signed some of the deals...

Originally Posted by Wikipedia

The 2004 survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers and Financial Times named him the world's 54th most respected business leader[2] in spite of the fact that he has faced many accusations of corruption and is frequently cited as the most hated man in Russia.

Go figure, as Americans would say! I guess the readers of the Financial Times and the shareholders of PWC were among the ones who benefited from the activities of this "respected business leader" whereas regular Russians got robbed.

So why is Khodorkovsky in prison and not this man? (Sorry about my ignorance. It was only recently that I became seriously interested in Russia.. Before that I was not paying any particular attention to news from Russia.)

Btw - it was interesting to hear that Rockzmom can get the Russia Today news channel in America. It is certainly not available in my cable package.

the sad thing is that the average Russians are always the ones who get robbed, meanwhile the oligarchs just do whatever they want. russia should have super harsh corruption punishments china-style imho

Originally Posted by Lt. Columbo

the sad thing is that the average Russians are always the ones who get robbed, meanwhile the oligarchs just do whatever they want. russia should have super harsh corruption punishments china-style imho

It won't work probably. The tradition of corruption is very old in Russia. In the past, the most severe punishments were introduced for extortioners and peculators (the authorities chopped heads off, hanged, impaled, quartered and did other terrible things), but the bribes were just raising higher and higher. A Russian historian and writer Nikolay Karamsin had once been asked a question "How things go in Russia?" and he answered "They steal."

I think that corruption in Russia will always prevail. The only thing that might help is its legalisation and taxation.
Imagine, the officials simply don't get paid at all. The only source of their income is bribes (or fees) that they take from citizens for fullfilling their primary duties. And these fees must be taxed. All of this should be properly supervised, of course, but quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

Originally Posted by Lt. Columbo

russia should have super harsh corruption punishments china-style imho

Well, first you have to prove that the corruption indeed took place and the courts are also corrupted...