Around 73% of Czech citizens are not preparing for crisis situations, and do not have emergency supplies and other essentials needed for such a case, said Interior Minister Vit Rakusan today, during the presentation of a government crisis handbook for citizens.
The handbook is designed to help the public prepare for crisis situations such as floods, fires, storms and disruptions of basic services. The data comes from a survey commissioned during the preparation of the handbook, which also focused on monitoring the credibility of individual components of the integrated rescue system, said Rakusan (STAN).
The survey shows that about 97% of people trust the fire service, 76% trust the police, and 74% trust the army, Rakusan noted.
The new manual is already available on the web under the title ‘72 hours’, and will be distributed in a printed form to all households in the Czech Republic around mid-October by the Czech Post.
The handbook contains advice and a checklist of things that can be useful to cope with water, heat, electricity and Internet outages for the first three days (i.e. the first 72 hours) of an emergency.
Emergency situations can be handled if citizens know how to proceed, Rakusan said.
The total cost of the project so far amounts to CZK 5.7 million. The printing of the brochure is estimated at CZK 25 million, though the tender is currently ongoing, so the final price may differ. Distribution will cost CZK 7.3 million, said Rakusan.
The manuals will be distributed after the autumn parliamentary elections, to prevent the project being seen as a political act, he added.
It makes sense that households will also have brochures in printed form, as it is a preparation for crisis situations. “For situations where the power goes out, we really won’t get to the Internet and to the computer. It may also happen that we do not even get a cell phone signal,” Rakusan explained.
He stressed that citizen preparedness is not to replace the integrated rescue system, but rather to strengthen it in a fundamental way.
The handbook is also available in English and Ukrainian. For additional information, interested parties can call the special hotline 950 380 380 from 9 am to 3 pm on weekdays, the Interior Ministry said.
