Information
\ncampaigns, cellphone apps and a national platform with recommendations are some
\nof the measures taken to help Romanian citizens react in extreme situations
\nlike those caused by big quakes. On Monday, the National Institute for Earth
\nPhysics, jointly with the Romanian Academy, presented instruments which were
\ndeveloped after March 4, 1977, when the most devastating tremor with a 7.2
\nmagnitude on the Richter scale occurred in Romania. The quake killed 1,570
\npeople, mostly in Bucharest, and caused material damage worth over 2 billion
\ndollars. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Some 230,000 dwellings were destroyed or badly damaged and hundreds of
\neconomic units were out of service. The quake triggered an economic and social
\ncrisis which, according to historians, the then communist dictatorship could
\nnot overcome until its collapse in 1989. Experts warn that in case of a similar
\nquake, hundreds of buildings might collapse in Bucharest. Since 2013 a system has
\nbeen put in place, triggering warnings in case of quakes above 4.5 Richterscale
\nand blocking hazardous infrastructure such as chemical processes or gas
\ninstallations. The system has been installed in the emergency centers of all
\nrelevant ministries in Romania. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The director of the National Institute for
\nEarth Physics, Constantin Ionescu PhD, said that the Institute was working on a
\nmonitoring system for office buildings. In turn, the state secretary for
\nemergency situations at the Interior Ministry, Raed Arafat, said that the
\nlessons provided by the Earthquake 2018 national exercise of last October
\nwere to be legally enforced. The biggest civil protection exercise organized in
\nEurope in recent years gave the authorities the opportunity to test the
\nreaction speed and capacity of taking action and cooperating in the event of a
\nmajor tremor. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The choice was not accidental: along with Spain, Italy and
\nGreece, Romania is one of the EU member countries most vulnerable to quakes. In
\nthe last two centuries, seven quakes measuring 7 degrees on the Richter scale
\nwere reported in this country. Last October, for five days, all responsible
\nstructures were involved in an earthquake drill for the occurrence of a 7.5 tremor
\nfollowed by aftershocks, which might result in a lot of casualties and would
\nhit Bucharest in the first place. Rescue teams were faced with extreme
\nsituations, while thousands were reported dead, wounded or homeless. President
\nKlaus Iohannis declared a state of emergency. Field army hospitals were set up
\nand victims’ camps were laid out in the city stadiums and in satellite localities.
\nState-of-the-art mobile hospitals with intensive care units were brought over
\nfrom Israel, Italy and Norway and ambulances came from Austria and Hungary.
\nExperts from EU and NATO specialized structures also looked into the results of
\nthe exercise. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The authorities are seeking new solutions to curtail the risks and determine a rapid and efficient response to a major earthquake<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":105,"featured_media":80904,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37738],"tags":[39590,39592,39589,39591,30518],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-80903","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-today-in-the-news","tag-awareness-raising","tag-constantin-ionescu","tag-earthquake-response","tag-national-institute-for-earth-physics","tag-raed-arafat"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n