– Today’s situation shows that over many years, Norwegian governments have not had enough focus on preparedness and security for the Norwegian population, says acting party leader in MDG, Arild Hermstad. news has uncovered failing supervision of the country’s 20,000 shelters. The Civil Defense does not have full control over either the number of shelters or their condition. The authorities’ secret register of all rooms contains many errors and omissions, according to news’s own investigations. Points to poor maintenance – I hope that both the war in Ukraine and the pandemic give us a new view of preparedness. Where vacant capacity is no longer a negative thing, neither when it comes to material nor staffing, says party leader in Rødt, Bjørnar Moxnes. On Monday, it was decided that the Armed Forces will step up preparedness. We are now in the most serious security policy situation in decades, explained the Prime Minister. – SV has previously been critical of the fact that the existing shelters suffer from insufficient maintenance, and that the expertise on shelters has been significantly reduced, says emergency policy spokesperson for SV, Andreas Sjalg Unneland. SV’s Andreas Sjalg Unneland is critical of the fact that today there is no emergency force that can take care of the task of preparing, staffing and operating the shelters. Photo: Terje Pedersen / NTB Six years ago disappointing report Since the Second World War, the construction of shelters has been an important measure to protect the civilian population during a war. In 1998, the authority removed the requirement that public buildings had to have shelters. Thus, the number of shelters has remained at rest. The rooms were built to protect us from air strikes, bombs, chemical and biological weapons, as well as to reduce the damage of radioactive radiation. The shelters must be able to be used with 72 hours’ notice. The question is whether this is only on paper. In 2016, the Norwegian Defense Research Institute (FFI) concluded that the scheme with shelters is outdated. In 2020, the Solberg government admitted that the civil protection measures are overall “deficient and outdated, and the measures will not be able to protect the population satisfactorily.” In 2021, the Storting decided that we must find out how the shelters are to be used and maintained in the future in the event of crises. The government gave this task to the Directorate for Community Security and Emergency Preparedness (DSB). But this study is not expected to be completed until 2023. – I would like to read DSB’s report when it is ready. But if the radioactivity comes, it is of little help to say that we are waiting for an investigation, says party leader in Rødt, Bjørnar Moxnes. Photo: Terje Pedersen / NTB – A time for action When it comes to DSB’s investigation, Venstre is a champion of knowledge gathering. This is pointed out by Storting representative and member of the justice committee, Ingvild Wetrhus Thorsvik (V). – But we still have to realize that it is a time for long studies and preliminary projects, and it is a time for action, she says and continues: – This autumn is a time for action. Now we see that the preparedness level is being raised in general, and with the situation in Europe in mind, there are good arguments for turning up the pace. – The poor condition of Norwegian shelters joins the list of deficiencies in Norwegian emergency preparedness, which we believe the Minister of Justice must address immediately, says Ingvild Wetrhus Thorsvik (V). Photo: Geir Olsen / NTB Admits big backlog Justice and emergency preparedness minister Emilie Enger Mehl (Sp) admits that there is a big backlog in preparing and repairing the shelters. The government wants to strengthen the Civil Defense in next year’s budget. – As far as shelters are concerned, there have been several decades where these have not been the focus. – Is the condition of Norwegian shelters good enough? – The government believes it is important that we go through the shelters and make an assessment of what role they will play in our society in the future. That review has therefore been initiated, and DSB is now working on it. – How can the Norwegian people be confident that we will receive the protection we are entitled to, according to international law, in the event of war and other major crises? – Now the government has greatly strengthened preparedness in the last six months after the war in Ukraine broke out. We have strengthened the police and PST. But also the Civil Defense, so that they can have more up-to-date equipment and practice more. Among other things, on this with the preparation of shelters. Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre (Ap) and Minister of Justice and Emergency Emilie Enger Mehl (Sp) lead the country in uncertain times. They are announcing that they will further strengthen the Civil Defense in next year’s budget. Photo: Terje Bendiksby / NTB – A cost The Storting must decide on – Does this mean that we are now behind, in terms of preparedness? – I cannot answer which priorities the previous government chose to do. I believe it is important that we now look at the shelters, and consider what kind of role these will have going forward. – What does the government intend to do to strengthen the arrangement with shelters and civil preparedness? – For the Center Party and the Labor Party, it has been absolutely fundamental to strengthen the Civil Defense. If money is to be spent on refurbishing shelters, or to establish more, then there will be a significant cost which the Storting will ultimately have to decide on. From peacetime to wartime, the Civil Defense has over the past 20 years been organised, trained and equipped to do its job in peacetime. For example during floods and fires. This is now changing, explains Chief of the Civil Defense, Øistein Knudsen jr. – Now we are turning the focus to a somewhat greater extent to what is our core mission: Protection of the civilian population in war. So I hope we never have to do exactly that. But my job as manager is to make sure that we are as well prepared as possible. Check the degree of coverage in your municipality Until now, we as residents have not been told where all the approximately 19,000 private shelters in Norway are located. Nor have we been told the capacity of these. But now, for the first time, news can present an overall overview of how the degree of coverage is in all of the country’s municipalities. In this overview, there are both public and private shelters. Municipalities with the highest degree of coverageTable one of oneNordkapp136%Vardø129%Røyrvik – Raarvihke103%Sør-Varanger88%Vadsø86%
ttn-69
MDG believes that the politicians have underfunded important infrastructure and crisis preparedness – news Trøndelag
