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Interview with

the Minister

for Emergency Situations

of the Republic of Belarus

The International Civil Defence Organization (ICDO) together with the Ministry
of Emergency Situations of the Republic of Azerbaijan held the International
Conference on "Civil Defence and Preparation of Civil Societies for Disaster Risk
Prevention" in the period from March 12 to 13,2013 in Gabala (Republic of Azer-
baijan). We had the opportunity to meet with the Minister for Emergency Situa-
tions of the Republic of Belarus Mr. Vladimir Vashchenko at the conference.

Q: Why did you decide to par- Q: What are the main problems Q: Do you think that population
ticipate in this conference? faced by your country? is not properly aware of the civil
defense?
The Ministry for Emergency Situa- If we talk about natural emergencies
tions of the Republic of Belarus is not - these are forest fires and floods. Education of the population is on-
a member of the ICDO, however we Our country is on a flat area with a going but there are issues that need
have a lot of things in common. I am lot of forests, rivers and lakes. We to be emphasized. And this confe-
grateful to the Ministry of Emergency have developed an efficient system rence is intended in particular to
Situations of the Republic of Azer- of ground, air and space monitoring. solve them and improve the efficien-
baijan for the invitation to partici- Thus we are prepared to promptly cy of training.
pate in this conference. We all share equip a team of professionals in case
common interests and concerns - to of such situations. Q: It was announced today that
make the lives of our citizens safer. the main way to prevent emer-
Q: Do you carry out any training gencies is to inform the popula-
Many participants noted in their programs? tion. How do you perform that?
speeches that only together we could Do you have any programs to
resist the man-made and natural di- We have two higher education ins- inform the population, or you
sasters. titutions as well as the Institute for take this measure only in case
Retraining and Professional Deve- of an emergency situation?
Q: What are the main issues you lopment, and the regional training
consider? centers as well. By the way foreigners A system for informing population
can obtain a college degree and pass is created in the Republic of Belarus.
The question is too wide and cannot any courses as well. Every year we The system covers all social groups
be answered in a short interview for- enroll hundreds of students from and all ages. Training classes are held
mat. The list of threats is very large other countries. in kindergartens, schools, universi-
and rescue services must be prepared ties and enterprises. For people in
for them: I mean both trained profes- Q: If we think about joining the rural areas we do the so-called <<rural
sionals and equipment for emergen- MES of Belarus to the ICDO, meetings <<, cooperate with the media
cy situations. what opportunities do you think actively and work in social networks.
you could obtain thanks to this The result - a steady decrease in the
Thanks to this conference we had an organization? number of man-made emergencies
opportunity to share experiences, and decrease in the number of deaths
training programs, new technolo- First of all thanks to the ICDO we and injuries. We train people how to
gies and other means with our col- have the opportunity to meet with behave in case of emergencies, how
leagues from different countries. We representatives of other countries, to act when it comes to man-made
discussed the issues of prevention, as well as participate in training disasters. In addition a huge empha-
legal regulation and education of the courses. sis is placed on prevention of emer-
population. gency situations. And of course we also
Recently we organized a joint trai- provide information during rescue
Here at the conference we can meet ning course with ICDO in our Insti- measures through the MES website
our colleagues and friends. It is very tute for Retraining and Professional and media.
important for our work because we Development. We will be developing
have to constantly communicate and this cooperation further as well.
learn new things from each other.

24 International
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