Resolution No. 21 of the Cabinet of Ministers the Classification of emergency situations and criteria for their assessment.

This Resolution approves Classification of emergency situations and criteria for their assessment and establishes a unified approach to assessing emergencies and incidents. The Act defines organizational and legal norms for assessing emergencies and incidents by severity and regulates relations arising in the activities of civil protection management bodies. It specifies that emergencies and incidents are classified by number of victims, amount of economic damage, and number of people whose normal life activities are disrupted, and distinguishes emergencies by origin and nature (natural, man-made, environmental, biological-social, and conflict-related). Incidents are similarly categorized but limited to natural, man-made, and environmental types. The annexes provide detailed typologies of emergencies and incidents. Annex 1 lists specific types of natural phenomena (earthquakes, mudflows, floods, avalanches, droughts, extreme temperatures, storms, natural fires, etc.), man-made events (dam failures, collapses of buildings, accidents in utilities and energy systems, transport accidents, releases of radioactive, chemical, biological and toxic substances, and tailings failures), environmental events (land, atmosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere and radioactive contamination changes, and accidents at treatment facilities), biological-social events (mass infectious diseases of people, animals and plants), and conflict-related situations (civil conflicts, military conflicts, terrorism). Each type is described by its characteristic manifestations. Annex 2 sets out a five-level scale of emergency severity (from object-level to republican, plus a transboundary category) with quantitative thresholds for victims, fatalities, affected population, material damage, and territorial spread. Annex 3 defines criteria for classifying incidents, including thresholds for victims and conditions indicating a threat of escalation into an emergency. The Resolution also regulates decision-making and management procedures in emergencies. A situation may be recognized as an emergency only by decision of a civil protection commission, which also decides on the operating regime of the state civil protection system (heightened readiness or emergency). The commission determines the grounds and criteria for regime introduction, territorial boundaries, protective measures, forces and means involved, responsible officials, and possible temporary restrictions on access and suspension of activities in the emergency zone. Responsibilities for liquidation of emergencies are allocated by severity level among organizations, local self-government bodies, local state administrations, oblast authorities, the cities of Bishkek and Osh, republican bodies, and, for transboundary emergencies, the Cabinet of Ministers. Heads of relevant bodies lead response and recovery operations, define the emergency zone, organize rescue, urgent works, and, if necessary, evacuation or resettlement. Their decisions are binding on all persons and organizations in the zone. The Resolution also refers to existing normative acts governing slow-onset hazards and cross-border information exchange on natural and man-made emergencies with Central Asian states.