According to R. Duchnevičius, this description essentially regulates the evacuation of residents in the event of a nuclear accident, so there is a need to improve it, taking into account the military threat posed by hostile states. In addition, according to the mayor, the description lacks greater involvement of ministries.
“The last changes to the description were made almost a decade ago. Assessing the current geopolitical situation, we aim to ensure effective safety of the population and adequate preparation for it. This is the responsibility of both municipalities and other state institutions.
The description regulates the obligations of municipalities in a sufficiently broad way, but we miss the regulation of the responsibilities and functions of other state institutions and institutions, including ministries. That’s why I’m turning to the Ministry of the Interior, which is responsible for the formulation and implementation of state policy in self-government,” emphasizes R. Duchnevičius.
The letter states that the Vilnius District Municipality, in order to maximally prepare and ensure the safety of residents and model their evacuation, makes the following suggestions:
– More help from ministries. It is claimed that the management of the crisis caused by migrants has clearly shown that without the flexible cooperation of the state and local government institutions, ensuring the effective safety of the population becomes extremely difficult. Therefore, it is appropriate to include the Ministry of Transport and its coordinated vehicle resources for population evacuation in the description. The participation of the Ministry of Finance is also required in ensuring the allocation of necessary funds to meet the essential needs of the evacuated population.
In the description, the municipality misses the responsibility of the Ministries of Health and Social Security and Labor for providing evacuees with medicines, first and emergency medical aid, clean clothes, as well as coordinating the provision of other vital services and resources.
– Modeling and management of state-level traffic flows. According to the letter, only a small part of the population might be evacuated at the same time with the capacity of the buses at the disposal of the Vilnius District Municipality Administration. It is likely that the resources of other municipalities are similar, judging by the percentage of the population.
R.Duchnevič suggests that the main focus in the description should be on the regulation of independent population evacuation. According to the mayor, in the event of an emergency, uncontrolled movement of traffic flows is predicted – part of the flow will also move to the city of Vilnius, which will cause a snow avalanche effect, and there will be even greater traffic jams.
“State-level modeling and management of traffic flows is necessary here. This might be a specific function of the Ministry of the Interior and/or the Ministry of Communications, working together with the police force. The most effective function of the municipality in this case would be to take care of those who cannot evacuate on their own: elderly people, single and low-income persons, disabled people, etc., R. Duchnevičius notes.
– IT platform and application on mobile phones. As stated in the letter, based on the provisions of the census, the relevant registration measures for evacuee residents prepared in municipalities are of different forms and scopes. As a result, in the opinion of the mayor, they will be dysfunctional for the common management of information between municipalities and at the state level. It is said that this problem would be effectively solved by a unified IT platform with a corresponding application on mobile phones.
It is proposed to clarify the description by legitimizing the electronic “e-evacuation” system, and then to prepare it urgently. As indicated in the letter, in such an IT platform, residents would have the opportunity to independently declare their own or family members’ evacuation, the need for it, it would be possible to predict, see and manage the traffic flows of residents.
According to R. Duchnevičius, the 3-day deadline for coordinating the evacuation between municipalities also needs to be corrected. According to the mayor, the population evacuation system must work immediately, without intermediate chains, together with the population warning and information system, the “e-evacuation” system would eliminate the human factor and operate 24/7.
– Clearer actions of public institutions located in the territory of the municipality. In the letter, it is proposed to clarify the regulation of the evacuation of residents from institutions or economic entities. Attention is drawn to the fact that the Law on Crisis Management and Civil Protection imposes an obligation on the heads of institutions and economic entities to ensure the safety of employees and not residents or their evacuation.
Therefore, the aforementioned description contains unclear limits of responsibility of the municipality and heads of institutions or economic entities when organizing the evacuation of residents in the territory of the municipality. There is also a lack of clear self-governance powers for state institutions and institutions that are located in the municipality’s territory, in case of population evacuation.
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2024-04-23 08:56:21