“People need to stop exercising in the heat,” Vasily Vlasov, president of the Society for Evidence-Based Medicine, told RT. “They have to cover their windows from the sun, to ventilate them at nighttime and protect them in daytime. People need to drink simple water – enough, but not too much, because overload with water can be dangerous, especially for people with cardiovascular diseases.”

Scorched Earth

Swathes of Central Russia are still in flames, with firefighters tackling hundreds of new fires every day. It is thought that it will take another week before the scorching temperatures begin to drop.

Russia is in flames. The hottest summer on record has also become one of the most destructive. Massive forest fires have already burnt about a thousand hectares of land, killed more than 40 and left more than 2,000 homeless. With wind speed of 20 meters per second, it's moving too fast, leaving behind a trail of devastation.

Over 520 fires are estimated to be blazing across Russia.

A small picturesque village, nestled in a beautiful pine forest some 150 kilometers south of the Russian capital Moscow – a paradise to the 300 people that lived there, with a kindergarten, a church and a community hall – will never be the same again.

RIA Novosti / Iliya Varlamov, STR

It took just minutes for a frightening display of mother nature's full force to change it forever. Twelve perished in the inferno, some in horrifying circumstances.

Panic has been spreading among people as fast as the flames have been engulfing their homes – five people, an old couple, a mother and a son and another woman, decided to hide in a basement. But their place of refuge became their tomb. Temperatures inside became too hot to survive.

Most people in the village managed to flee. Galina Mikhaleva was one of those that escaped. A day later she's back, hoping to find something intact, but it's all in vain.

“The flames were spreading up high, even above that tall tower, and the black smoke filled all the space below,” Galina said. “I felt really scared when I saw red fire glow and black smoke. You know, I’ve seen houses and barns burning. But here the entire village burned down completely. This was really horrifying.”

The dormitory of a local college has become a new home for dozens of homeless. It's stuffy and smoky in its corridors and rooms, but it's the only shelter they have now.

“We want to say thanks for all this care, they feed us here very well, they talk to us, and we have a corner to sleep!” said one of the survivors.

RIA Novosti / Aleksey Kudenko

But they hope their stay here will not be long.

“We've already got about $70,000 in compensation each, pensioners and jobless, a bit more, but what we are especially waiting for, that's a new home, they've promised it for every family within the next three months,” said Alksandra, one of the survivors. “And we are ready to wait.”

When the houses are rebuilt, the victims of this unstoppable and merciless force will try to rebuild their lives and consign the ghost village to a past that all here would rather forget.