the judge explained the differences and the legal regulation

There is a lot of talk in the public space about shelters, shelters and structures of collective protection, but not all of us know what it means, and few of us could say where in the city where we have lived for many years there is such a shelter.

How has the legal regulation of population protection in emergency situations changed, what are the differences between the structures intended for protection and what would protect us the most when X-day arrives? Interview with Vilnius District Court Judge, Mykolas Romeris University Partnership Professor Dr. Ruta Petkuviene.

– The most popular name for a security structure, the most common word used in today’s context, is a hideout. Even politicians use the word in a general sense to describe a place where people could hide in case of war or other disaster. What is a hide and how is it different from a cover?

– In the “Dictionary of the Current Lithuanian Language” a hiding place is described as a place to hide or hide someone, but in legal language this is not an exact definition. In fact, a shelter is a special-purpose structure or room intended for persons who ensure the activities of state or municipal institutions during war or emergency situations, as well as for those who perform special tasks in such cases.

Therefore, if you are not the person who should ensure the activities of the institutions and you have not received special orders, unfortunately, you will not be able to use the hideout. You will be able to take cover or protect yourself from explosions, debris, random bullets caused by aircraft, rockets or artillery fire in collective security buildings or shelters.

– So, cover and hiding are two very different things, these words should not be confused or used synonymously?

– Yes, cover and hiding are two different things, these words should not be confused. The shelter is intended for short-term protection, to cover, as I mentioned, from extreme situations. Ordinary people could also hide in collective security structures. Such structures are intended to actually protect human life and health during war or emergency situations. Unlike shelters, there is no regulation on how long a person can hide in collective buildings, so it can be understood from the will of the legislator that a person can hide until the danger to his life and health passes.

– More information about the nearest shelters and collective protection structures can be found on the website LT72 administered by the Department of Fire Protection and Rescue. The page contains information on what to do in case of an emergency. For example, the page states that when a person hears an air alert, they should find a structure that has a cover tag as quickly as possible.

A person should hide, as the page says, in a tunnel, underpass, to avoid danger. Accordingly, people should know in advance where they can hide, take cover, what cover or collective protection structures to look for. Still, a rhetorical question arises, whether we could actually safely hide from aircraft, rockets, artillery explosives in tunnels or underground pedestrian crossings, knowing the impact that air waves can cause.

– So not only in legal, but also in everyday language, it is important to accurately use and understand the concepts of hiding place, cover, collective protection structure. People must know what kind of building it really is?

– It is necessary to know the purpose of the structure, so that in the event of an accident, when trying to hide, people do not suffer from the insufficiently strong construction of the structure itself. In the past, shelters actually had special technical construction requirements, they were really very strong structures in their time, but this information is already outdated, inaccurate. Now we have a changed construction technical regulation, which provides additional technical requirements for shelters and collective safety structures. If the shelters were transformed into collective safety structures by the will of the political decision maker, then we would have safe structures.

– You mentioned the new construction regulation, it was adopted at the end of February this year. It provides for new requirements for the design and installation of shelters, collective protection structures and shelters. Tell us what new decisions have been made.

– If we are talking about hiding places, now we have a requirement first for the building itself or the room. The walls of the hideout must be made of monolithic reinforced concrete. In the hiding places, electricity, water, air supply must be ensured, the availability of communication and, of course, food, fuel reserves and necessary medical aid must be preserved. An emergency exit must also be provided. The exit must be protected against the collapse of the structure or arranged in such a way that the structure of the structure does not collapse.

It’s the same with covers. Emergency exit is mandatory in public buildings where more than 100 people can hide at the same time, as well as in all apartment buildings with a height of more than 5 floors. The builder is responsible for installing the shelters. In fact, there are now special requirements for shelters.

The structure of the shelter should be made of steel, masonry, of course, it can also be made of reinforced concrete. If the builder installs the shelter in an apartment building, it can be, for example, an underground parking lot, such a shelter must have one entrance and one exit. There is an important requirement for the emergency exit – it must be outside the building’s possible collapse limit. There must also be a place for a medicine cabinet. According to the preferences of the builder, equipment can be installed to prevent, for example, the release of certain harmful chemicals, ie gases, aerosols. If the underground parking lot is open, in other words, it does not have a closed exit door, there is no garage door installed, then a structural wall structure must be installed at the exit. It must be installed at an angle of 90 degrees so that the air shock wave does not reach the person hiding in the shelter.

However, I think it is important to emphasize once again that the shelter is intended to cover up, and the structure of collective safety, which I will now tell you about, is intended to protect a person from dangers harmful to his health and life. You can hide in a collective security building for an unlimited time. According to the new legal regulation, there are 3 categories of collective buildings.

Category III building is designed to hide, to protect oneself from extreme weather phenomena, from natural disasters.

Category II collective safety building is designed to protect against extreme meteorological phenomena, natural disasters, kinetic threats.

A Category I collective security structure is designed to protect against all threats, i.e. threats of explosive power, as well as radiation, ionizing kinetic threats, gas hazards, war or emergency situations. This type of structure would protect even in the event of an accident at the Astrava power plant. The Category I structure ensures complete security and is compliant with the previous shelters under the new regulation. Category I collective safety building is the safest, its walls must be reinforced concrete, prefabricated or one-piece monolith. In such a building, there must be a room for cooking, as well as a room for sleeping. Must have first aid kit.

– We talk like it should be, but it’s not like that. Do you know when that will be?

– This question should be answered by the mayor of each municipality, because by April 30 the need for collective safety structures must be determined. So far, only 25% of collective security structures are guaranteed. permanent residents of the municipality.

– Shouldn’t the building of collective security be provided as a mandatory addition to certain buildings in order to ensure greater security?

– Unequivocally yes, it should be. I said that mayors must determine the number of permanent residents, taking into account the need for such structures, but, for example, universities are located in big cities. It goes without saying that universities shelter not only students in dormitories, let’s say we all know that Saulėtekio al. are definitely not permanent residents of the municipality.

Students are the young, promising generation, our future, so it would be desirable for the political decision-maker to oblige, not just propose to determine the need to install collective security buildings near the dormitories. I think it would be significant to install Category I structures to preserve our young generation.

It is also very difficult to imagine how students would get to the existing structures of collective security in case of an emergency, for example, a war or an attack. Considering the congestion prevailing in big cities, some students would probably not reach the safe places. Big cities also have university hospitals where it is difficult for the treated persons to move, so, again, collective safety structures should be installed near such structures. Collective safety structures should also be installed near every school and kindergarten.