Civil Defense Association of Lower Austria urges people to take precautions for general emergencies

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The Civil Defense Association of Lower Austria urges people to take precautions for general emergencies.

Elevated radiation levels around the ruins of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant had recently alarmed the population. According to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), there was no cause for concern. The reason was radioactively contaminated soil stirred up by the Russian military’s capture of the accident reactor. At present, there is no acute danger of a radioactive incident, but the

As an example, the creation of a food stockpile was mentioned. The main task of the civil defense associations is to prepare the population for threat scenarios: “We practice emergencies several times a year – and once a year, on the first Saturday in October, we remind people of the Austria-wide, close-meshed siren system,” said Christoph Kainz, president of the Civil Defense Association of Lower Austria. The annual civil defense rehearsal alarm begins with a three-minute continuous tone of the siren, the so-called warning; then, the population should turn on the radio.

“Within a few minutes, the ORF can broadcast all the important info via television and radio,” Kainz said. If the worst comes to the worst, the media will also provide information on when and in which areas it might be advisable to take potassium iodide tablets, among other things. When things get dire, an ascending and descending siren tone is heard, the so-called “alarm,” and at the end comes to the all-clear, “a one-minute constant continuous tone” during the siren rehearsal.

Everyone should know these simple rules of conduct. In addition, the expert also urges people to think about self-sufficiency. “Anyone and everyone can do this, and even before things get serious: Store food, which can be noodles or other long-lasting goods – and above all also water, which is enough for at least ten days per person in the household.” Stocking up on food is everyone’s responsibility, said Kainz, who advises planning to prevent hoarding purchases like those before the first lockdown. “That foresight is reasonable for people to have.”

Kainz is skeptical of further construction of air raid shelters to protect in nuclear accidents or even an attack with nuclear weapons. “In the current threat situation, this is rather unnecessary. In the Cold War era, the legislature stipulated that a shelter had to be included when a single-family house was built,” he recalls. That was mandatory in most states until the 1990s. While these would also be helpful in today’s world, “in the event of an incident like Chernobyl in 1986, even an everyday structure is enough for protection, the walls of the house and the ordinary basement,” the expert says.