Forest fires as large as those that have been burning in Indonesia or Brazil
over the past 18 months are raging out of control in the far east of Russia.
Since April, fire has consumed two million hectares in the Khabarovsk district
on the Pacific coast and on the island of Sakhalin, and is still spreading.
The UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says the fires may
already have crossed the border into China. The office says there will be 鈥渁
full-fledged catastrophe鈥� if the region鈥檚 drought continues next year. And it
fears the fires could also threaten two oil and gas pipelines from Sakhalin to
the mainland.