The Ministry of the Interior, in order to strengthen the population's preparedness for emergency situations, continues the civil protection information campaign "We are a team - we have a plan". A civil safety educational project was presented at the Vilnius Užupis high school for students of senior (9-12) grades.
"The successfully launched large-scale information campaign "We are a team - we have a plan" showed that we must pay due attention to each group of society. In order to properly prepare the population for emergency situations, the youth audience is extremely important to us. With the help of the latest technologies and creativity, we reach not only the schoolboy himself, but also his entire family", says Minister of the Interior Agnė Bilotaitė.
Will visit 30 Lithuanian schools
November 6 a new information project of the Ministry of Internal Affairs on civil protection is launched, intended for students in grades 9-12. During the project, young people will be told and demonstrated with the help of modern technologies how to prepare for a possible nuclear accident, military threats and other civil safety disasters.
"With young people of this age, it is already possible to talk a little more openly about threats and consolidate the knowledge they received in the previous school years while learning civil protection. During the meetings, we intend to convey the most important messages to them in a short, clear and interactive way: how will we be informed about the natural disaster that has occurred, how will we hear the warning sirens, where are the nearest collective shelter structures to which we may have to evacuate from our usual environment, say home or school . Most importantly, we will emphasize how to prepare for a disaster in advance - how to put together a departure bag, consider a family plan. We believe that preparing for such disasters is not only a young person's job, the whole family must be prepared," says Donatas Gurevičius, head of the Civil Protection Department of the Vilnius Fire Rescue Board of PAGD.
The interviewer says that the experience of previous meetings with students shows that it is often the student who brings the message to the parents about what was discussed at school, sometimes the parents have not even heard about it, because they have been studying at school for a long time and have not updated their knowledge.
"This is how students provoke a discussion in the family or preparation for emergency situations. Sometimes parents also come back with the same questions and ask what we talked about and what they should know. So, when we reach one audience, we also reach another - not only the schoolboy himself, but also his family," D. Gurevičius shares his insights.
The departure bag is different for everyone
D. Gurevičius says that the meetings will be interactive, during which PAGD representatives will not only talk about the main aspects of preparing for emergency situations or other major disasters, but will try to make them attractive to schoolchildren.
"During the meetings, we will demonstrate the departure bag and the items in it. We will try to interest young people so that they pack such a departure bag themselves after returning home and talk about it with their family members. Having supplies prepared in advance is important in order to save time, which is usually lacking in the event of a disaster," the interviewer points out.
PAGD's civil safety expert says that the contents of the bag depends on what kind of things a person has in his environment: "The leaving bag we demonstrate weighs more than 30 kg. It is designed to stimulate the imagination so that young people can become familiar with the things that can be packed in their away bag, even if those things do not necessarily have to be in that young person's away bag. We will simply show things that can be used in the event of an emergency, and the young man will choose what things he might need, after all, everyone lives in different conditions - one in an apartment building, the other in a private house, and this affects the things that should be put in the departure bag."
Experience a real situation using VR glasses
Another interactive highlight that will be used in meetings with students is virtual reality glasses. After putting them on, the students will enter a home environment where they will have to grasp what they have to do in a very short time, using the knowledge they have acquired during the lectures and quizzes and the delivery of the leaving bag. Young people will have to remember what is important in the event of a radiation hazard, say, in the event of an accident at the Astrav nuclear power plant in Belarus.
"The probability of such an accident is very small, we will emphasize this to schoolchildren as well, but you need to prepare for any accident. We are talking about very rare cases that people do not have to experience in their lifetime. We have no experience of how to deal with, say, a nuclear accident, we can only talk a lot about it. Going into virtual reality, touching the real things in the departure bag, is a much more effective tool than showing slides to tell the theory. I am convinced that the realistic simulation will help young people better remember the most important principles of behavior in the face of a threat and will be meaningful and useful", says the interviewer.
When asked why this particular situation was chosen, D. Gurevičius says that the situation is one of several possible ones. "During this project, 31 schools were selected, located in the territories of municipalities within a radius of 100 km (some a little more) from the Astrav nuclear power plant. The schools selected are those which we have not visited before, which have larger class sizes and which have agreed to host us. Thus, these schools fall into the territory where it is possible to need to evacuate", - the interviewee mentions the reason for the choice.
It is recommended to prepare to survive for 3 days
According to D. Gurevičius, more information about preparing for extreme civil threats can be found on the website, which has been operating for eight years www.lt72.lt, which has 72 hours encoded in its name, in other words, a 3-day period. We say that every resident of Lithuania, no matter what age, should be ready to survive three days on their own, and not necessarily in their own environment, after all, they may have to evacuate to an unusual environment, for example collective protection structures. When large-scale disasters occur, say earthquakes, hurricanes, which disrupt our normal activities, civil protection forces - firefighters, police, medics - may not be able to provide immediate assistance to a resident. Therefore, everyone must take care of their safety in advance. Such a person will not be a burden to others, because he will be ready to survive a certain period of time so that the state can prepare to evacuate people with larger forces during that time."
The issue of strengthening self-defense has become particularly important
According to the sociological research of the MIA, the preparation of the Lithuanian population for emergency situations remains insufficient, people lack the skills necessary for survival.
A fifth (18%) of Lithuanian residents have prepared a departure bag, and 15% have discussed the family plan on how to act in the event of an emergency with their relatives. population. 72 hours of essential supplies. (food, water, medicines, hygiene products) have 50% ready. of the country's population.
According to Minister A. Bilotaitė, in today's geopolitical context, the issue of warning, informing and strengthening self-defense of the population has become particularly important.
"Appropriate preparation not only of civil protection entities, but also of the population themselves in case of a specific crisis or disaster will help reduce the consequences of any emergency situation. Now, when we are living in relatively calm conditions, it is the most suitable time to do it", - Minister A. Bilotaitė is convinced.
