Reconstruction after extreme weather phenomena
The Government of Romania has earmarked nearly 8 million euros for reconstruction works in the counties in the west and centre of the country affected by storms.
Roxana Vasile, 22.09.2017, 13:42
Ten counties in the west and centre of Romania, hit by powerful storms over the past few days, are to receive the equivalent of nearly 8 million euros in public funds. This is a first instalment of the aid pledged by the Government, and it will cover the costs of emergency repair works on public buildings.
Deputy PM Sevil Shhaideh made the announcement: “We are talking about over 36 million lei for repair works on 16 hospitals, 23 clinics, more than 251 schools and other public education units, police stations, churches and other public buildings.”
In the weeks to come, depending on the assessment reports received from local authorities, further funds will be earmarked from a special natural disaster intervention fund. Last Sunday, a storm that lasted no more than 15-20 minutes ravaged 15 counties in the west, north and centre of the country, killing 8 people and injuring 140 others. In over 200 towns and villages, the strong wind, sometimes exceeding 120 kmph, knocked down hundreds of trees and electricity poles, tore roofs and billboards and tipped over vehicles. Power outings were reported and localities were left without running water, while road and railway traffic was disrupted. The most severely affected area was Timis County, in the west.
Last Sunday’s events disconcerted the authorities, who feared that similar occurrences would be reported on Wednesday and Thursday, when most of the country was swept by storms. The damages were smaller this time, but three more people died.
Facing extreme weather phenomena, Romania must get a high-performance citizen alert system, as other European countries have. This is why PM Mihai Tudose said that twice a week deputy prime minister Marcel Ciolacu would have meetings with officials of the National Communications Authority, the Emergency Response Inspectorate, the Special Telecommunications Service and the 4 mobile telecoms operators in the country, in order to put together such an alert system.
PM Mihai Tudose: “Meetings are held by deputy PM Ciolacu with National Communications Authority, the Emergency Response Inspectorate, the Special Telecommunications Service and the 4 mobile operators, to implement a system that we named RoAlert, designed to disseminate in due time any warning against phenomena that threaten people’s lives. Such alerts will be sent automatically to people’s mobile phones.”
According to experts, as a consequence of global warming, extreme weather phenomena with very short warning times may become common in the near future.
