In the spring, the report of the Ministry of the Interior (IeM) mentioned that the restoration or creation of shelters and shelters in Latvia would need indicatively at least 98,679,900 euros.
Kozlovskis explained that these 98.6 million euros were preliminary estimates for the adaptation of the existing surveyed approximately 5,000 buildings. These would be third-category shelters, the adaptation of which would be a right, not an obligation. IeM held several meetings and the real situation currently shows that funding for adaptation could only be taken from European Union (EU) funds and such funding could be available no earlier than 2025.
“Currently, there is no funding from the budget for the adaptation of shelters. The question still remains about the possibility for municipalities to borrow for the implementation of such goals,” the minister added.
According to the task of the Cabinet of Ministers, the IeM was tasked with preparing amendments to the Law on Civil Defense and Disaster Management, which includes the normative regulation on shelters, while the Ministry of Economy (ME) must prepare and submit to the Cabinet of Ministers for consideration a draft of the building regulations for shelters. Kozlovskis informed that amendments to the Law on Civil Defense and Disaster Management are planned to be submitted in the near future, while the Ministry of the Interior has been instructed to prepare the project of building regulations by December.
Currently, it is not known what the increase in price will be when building new shelters, because simply the mentioned building code has not been prepared yet, Kozlovskis explained. “No one knows that, some say that the price increase for the building is 50%, others again 30%. It will be possible to say that when there will be a specific regulation,” the minister added.
The State Fire and Rescue Service (VUGD) recently announced that VUGD officials are continuing to survey the basements and basements of state and municipal buildings to assess their suitability for shelter needs. By mid-August, after checking 1,911 facilities, it was concluded that 259 or 13.5% of facilities fully meet the needs of the shelter and 818 or 42.8% partially meet. These facilities can accommodate 373,000 people.
As VUGD officials perform the survey of state and local government basements and basements in addition to their direct service duties, it is planned that the survey of about 4,500 identified objects will be completed at the beginning of November. The Minister informed that the work on placing the first signs of shelters on buildings that partially or fully meet the requirements for shelters has also started. It is planned to be completed by the national holiday in November.
Although there are container-type shelters on the streets around the world, for example in Israel, Kozlovskis believes that the existing infrastructure should be fixed first, and only then, perhaps, in the future can we return to other solutions.
It has already been reported that amendments to the Law on Civil Protection and Disaster Management provide that shelters are divided into three categories. The shelters of the first category would provide protection from means of mass destruction, exposure to toxic chemicals, radioactive contamination. Protection against means of mass destruction would include protection from the destructive factors of a nuclear explosion, from exposure to chemical warfare agents, and from exposure to bacteriological agents.
Shelters of the second category should be equipped with appropriate filters, providing air overpressure and equipment that can provide a suitable environment for breathing in the event that air is not supplied from the outside.
Shelters of the second category would provide protection from the shock wave of the explosion, flying objects such as shrapnel, bullets, broken glass, radioactive contamination. Unlike shelters of the first category, the shelters of the second category would be built with a smaller thickness of walls and covers, thus providing protection from the shock wave of the explosion with less overpressure, and would not be equipped with filters for protection against chemical warfare agents and toxic substances and equipment that can provide breathing environment in the absence of outside air supply.
On the other hand, the shelters of the third category are designed to reduce the impact of the shock wave caused by the explosion, shelter from flying objects, such as splinters, bullets, building debris, broken glass, as well as radiation pollution.
The bill envisages that shelters of the first category would be built in newly constructed buildings, where critical infrastructure objects of category A and B are planned to be located and where personnel are expected to stay continuously on a daily basis.
The shelters of the second category would be built by the construction of new buildings in which, according to their use, a significant number of people can stay during or outside of working hours.
The owner of the object, which is not subject to the mandatory requirements for the establishment of a shelter of the first or second category, would be entitled to install a shelter of the third category in accordance with the requirements for adapting the premises, or a shelter of a higher category. This would also apply to the shelters built in previous years, which have remained in good condition and the owner would like to restore them.
Shelters of the third category would be created by adapting buildings or their parts located in the basement or underground floor. As far as possible, shelters should be designed in such a way that they can be used as objects of dual use, for example, underground parking lots, utility rooms, etc., in order to reduce the costs of shelter construction and creation.
Local governments are assigned a task that does not require additional financial resources – to plan the placement of shelters so that a sufficient number of them is ensured according to the population density in the respective territory.
2024-08-28 04:14:28